1.
Shea Stadium
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Shea Stadium /ˈʃeɪ/) was a stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City. Built as a stadium, it was the home park of Major League Baseballs New York Mets from 1964 to 2008. Shea Stadium was named in honor of William A. Shea and it was demolished in 2009 to create additional parking for the adjacent Citi Field, the current home of the Mets. The origins of Shea Stadium go way back to the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants relocations to the U. S. west coast, OMalley preferred to pay construction costs himself so he could own the stadium outright. He wanted total control over revenue from parking, concessions, New York City, in contrast, wanted to build the stadium, rent it, and retain the ancillary revenue rights to pay off its construction bonds. Additionally, OMalley wanted to build his new stadium in Brooklyn, in 1960, the National League agreed to grant an expansion franchise to the owners of the New York franchise in the abortive Continental League, provided that a new stadium be built. Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. had to wire all National League owners. On October 6,1961, the Mets signed a 30-year stadium lease, rent for what was originally budgeted as a $9 million facility was set at $450,000 annually, with a reduction of $20,000 each year until it reached $300,000 annually. The Mets inaugural season was played in the Polo Grounds, with plans calling for the team to move to a new stadium in 1963. In October 1962, Mets official Tom Meany said, Only a series of blizzards or some other unforeseen trouble might hamper construction and that unforeseen trouble surfaced in a number of ways, the severe winter of 1962–1963, along with the bankruptcies of two subcontractors and labor issues. The end result was both the Mets and Jets played at the Polo Grounds for one more year. After 29 months and $28.5 million, Shea Stadium opened on April 17,1964, the stadium opened five days before the 1964-65 New York Worlds Fair, across Roosevelt Avenue. Although not officially part of the grounds, the stadium sported steel panels on its exterior in the blue-and-orange colors of the Fair. The panels were removed in 1980, in accordance with New York City law, Shea Stadium was dismantled, rather than imploded. The company with the rights to sell memorabilia was given two weeks after the game to remove seats, signage and other potentially saleable and collectable items before demolition was to begin. The seats were the first, followed by other such as the foul poles, dugouts, stadium signage. After salvaging operations concluded, demolition of the ballpark began on October 14,2008, on October 18, the scoreboard in right field was demolished, with the bleachers, batters eye and bullpens shortly thereafter. By November 10, the field, dugouts and the rest of the field level seats had been demolished, by mid-December, all of the Loge level seats and a good portion of the Mezzanine level seating were gone as well, leaving only the outer shell remaining
2.
Yogi Berra
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Lawrence Peter Yogi Berra was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball. He was an 18-time All-Star, and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any player in MLB history. Berra had a batting average of.285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of five players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, Berra was a native of St. Louis, and signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the U. S. Navy in World War II. He made his debut at age 21 in 1946 and was a mainstay in the Yankees lineup during the teams championship years beginning in 1949. Despite his short stature, Berra was a power hitter and strong defensive catcher and he caught Don Larsens perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. After playing 18 seasons with the Yankees, Berra retired following the 1963 season and he spent the next season as their manager, then joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach. Berra remained with the Mets for the decade, serving the last four years as their manager. He returned to the Yankees in 1976, coaching them for eight seasons and he was one of seven managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. Berra appeared as a player, coach or manager in one of the 13 World Series that New York baseball teams competed in from 1957 through 1981. In all, he appeared in 21 World Series,13 on the winning side, the Yankees retired his uniform number 8 in 1972, in an unusual twist, Bill Dickey also wore number 8, and both catchers had that number retired by the Yankees. The club honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988, Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a vote by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. Berra quit school after the eighth grade and he was known for his malapropisms as well as pithy and paradoxical statements, such as It aint over til its over, while speaking to reporters. He once simultaneously denied and confirmed his reputation by stating, I really didnt say everything I said, Yogi Berra was born Lorenzo Pietro Berra in a primarily Italian neighborhood of St. Louis called The Hill to Italian immigrants Pietro and Paolina Berra. Pietro was originally from Malvaglio near Milan in northern Italy, he arrived at Ellis Island on October 18,1909 at the age of 23, in a 2005 interview for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Yogi said, My father came over first. He came from the old country, and he didnt know what baseball was
3.
New York Mets
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The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League East division. The Mets are one of two Major League clubs based in New York City, the other is the New York Yankees. One of baseballs first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New Yorks departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. The Mets colors are composed of the Dodgers blue and the Giants orange, during the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets home ballpark was Shea Stadium, in 2009, they moved into their current ballpark, Citi Field. In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the Mets made the playoffs in 2006 when they came within one game of the World Series, losing to the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. The Mets missed the playoffs with losses on the last day of the season in 2007 and 2008. The Mets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time in nine years, the team again returned to the playoffs in 2016, this time with a wild card berth. This is the teams second playoff appearance, the first occurring during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. With the threat of a New York team joining a new third league, for the first two years of its existence, the team played its home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. In 1964, they moved into newly constructed Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, in 2009, the club moved into Citi Field, adjacent to the former Shea Stadium site. During their history, the Mets have won two World Series titles, five National League pennants and six National League East titles, the Mets also qualified for the postseason as the National League wild card team in 1999,2000, and 2016. The Mets have appeared in five World Series, more than any other team in MLB history. Their two championships are the most titles among expansion teams, equal to the tallies of the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, the Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record for 29 years. They broke the Yankees 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million spectators in 1970, the Mets broke their own record five times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999. The 1962 Mets posted a 40–120 record, a record for the most losses in a season since 1899, in 1966, the Mets famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors. But the following year, they acquired future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in a lottery, in 1973, the Mets rallied from 5th place to win the division, despite a record of only 82–79
4.
Atlanta Braves
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The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball franchise based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The franchise competes in Major League Baseball as a member of the National League East division, the Braves played home games at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996, and Turner Field from 1997 to 2016. Since 2017, their stadium has been SunTrust Park, a new stadium 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta in Cumberland/Galleria, Georgia. The Braves play spring training games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in January 2017, the Braves announced a formal agreement to move their spring training home to North Port, Florida. The Braves name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior, from 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning division titles an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period. The Braves won the NL West 1991–93 and the NL East 1995–2005, the Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities, the Braves and the Chicago Cubs are the National Leagues two remaining charter franchises. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, the team states it is the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America. After various name changes, the team began operating as the Boston Braves. Then, in 1953, the moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The teams tenure in Atlanta is noted for Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruths career home run record in 1974, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years, pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, the team became one of the National Leagues charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the Red Caps. The Boston Red Caps played in the first game in the history of the National League, on Saturday, April 22,1876, defeating the Athletics, although somewhat stripped of talent in the National Leagues inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the dominant teams during the 19th century. For most of time, their manager was Frank Selee. Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color, the 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century
5.
Cleveland Indians
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The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indians compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field, the teams spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. The Indians current World Series championship drought is the longest active drought, the name Indians originated from a request by club owner Charles Somers to baseball writers to choose a new name to replace Cleveland Naps following the departure of Nap Lajoie after the 1914 season. The name referenced the nickname Indians that was applied to the Cleveland Spiders baseball club during the time when Louis Sockalexis, common nicknames for the Indians include the Tribe and the Wahoos, the latter being a reference to their logo, Chief Wahoo, a controversial Native American caricature. The teams mascot is named Slider, the franchise originated in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, a minor league team in the Western League. The team moved to Cleveland in 1900 and changed its name to the Cleveland Lake Shores, one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the major league incarnation of the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. Originally called the Cleveland Bluebirds, the played in League Park until moving permanently to Cleveland Stadium in 1946. At the end of the 2016 season, they had a regular season record of 9. In 1857 baseball games were a spectacle in Clevelands Public Squares. City authorities tried to find an ordinance forbidding it, to the joy of the crowd, – Harold Seymour 1865–1868 Forest Citys of Cleveland 1869–1872 Forest Citys of Cleveland From 1865 to 1868 Forest Citys was an amateur ball club. During the 1869 season, Cleveland was among several cities which established professional baseball teams following the success of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional team. In the newspapers before and after 1870, the team was called the Forest Citys. In 1871 the Forest Citys joined the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, ultimately, two of the leagues western clubs went out of business during the first season and the Chicago Fire left that citys White Stockings impoverished, unable to field a team again until 1874. Cleveland was thus the NAs westernmost outpost in 1872, the year the club folded, Cleveland played their full schedule to July 19 followed by two games versus Boston in mid-August and disbanded at the end of the season. 1879–1881 Cleveland Forest Citys 1882–1884 Cleveland Blues In 1876, the National League supplanted the NA as the professional league. Cleveland were not among its members, but by 1879 the league was looking for new entries. The Cleveland Forest Citys baseball team was then re-created, the National League required distinct colors for the 1882 season, so the Cleveland Forest Citys became the Cleveland Blues
6.
Houston Astros
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The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros are members of the American League West division in Major League Baseball, the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park since 2000. The Astros were established as the Houston Colt. 45s and entered the National League in 1962 with the expansion New York Mets. The current name—reflecting Houstons role as the center of the U. S. space program—was adopted three years later, when they moved into the Astrodome, the worlds first domed sports stadium. The Astros played in the NL from 1962 to 2012 and they played in the West division from 1969 to 1993, and the Central division from 1994 to 2012. The Astros have played in one World Series in 2005 against the Chicago White Sox, from 1888 until 1961, Houstons professional baseball club was the minor league Houston Buffaloes. Although expansion from the National League eventually brought an MLB team to Texas in 1962, Houston officials had been making efforts to do so for years prior. There were four men responsible for bringing Major League Baseball to Houston, George Kirksey and Craig Cullinan. They formed the Houston Sports Association as their vehicle for attaining a big league franchise for the city of Houston and they called the new league the Continental League. Wanting to protect potential new markets, both existing leagues chose to expand from eight teams to ten, however, plans eventually fell through for the Houston franchise after the Houston Buffaloes owner, Marty Marion, could not come to an agreement with the HSA to sell the team. To make matters worse, the Continental League as a whole folded in August 1960, however, on October 17,1960, the National League granted an expansion franchise to the Houston Sports Association in which their team could begin play in the 1962 season. Eventually, the Houston Sports Association succeeded in purchasing the Houston Buffaloes, at this point majority-owned by William Hopkins, the Buffs played one last minor league season as the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs in 1961 before being succeeded by the citys NL club. The new Houston team was named the Colt. 45s after a Name The Team contest was won by William Irving Neder, the Colt.45 was well known as the gun that won the west. The colors selected were blue and orange. The first team was formed mostly through a draft after the 1961 season. The Colt. 45s and their cousins, the New York Mets. Many of those associated with the Houston Buffaloes organization were allowed by the ownership to continue in the major league, Manager Harry Craft, who had joined Houston in 1961, remained in the same position for the team until the end of the 1964 season. General manager Spec Richardson also continued with the organization as business manager, similarly, the radio broadcasting team remained with the new Houston major league franchise
7.
San Diego Padres
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The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Diego, California. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the NL pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, as of 2015, they have had 14 winning seasons in franchise history. The Padres are the major professional sports franchise to be located in San Diego. The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team that arrived in San Diego in 1936 and that minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by 18-year-old Ted Williams, the future Hall-of-Famer who was a native of San Diego. The teams name, Spanish for fathers, refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769. In 1969, the Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new teams, along with the Montreal Expos, the Kansas City Royals. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. The teams fortunes improved as they won five National League West titles and reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and in 1998. The Padres main draw during the 1980s and 1990s was Tony Gwynn and they moved into their current stadium, Petco Park, in 2004. As of 2016, the Padres are the team in the MLB yet to throw a no-hitter since their addition to the league in 1969. The team has played its spring training games at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria and they share the stadium with the Seattle Mariners. From 1969 to 1993, the Padres held spring training in Yuma, due to the short driving distance and direct highway route, Yuma was very popular with Padres fans, and many fans would travel by car from San Diego for spring training games. Throughout the teams history, the San Diego Padres have used six different logos, the original team colors were blue and red before changing to gold and brown in the 70s. Their first logo depicts a friar swinging a bat with Padres written at the top standing in a sun-like figure with San Diego Padres on the exterior of it. The Swinging Friar has popped up on the uniform on and off ever since although the head of the friar has been tweaked from the original in recent years, in 1985, the Padres switched to using a script-like logo in which Padres was written sloped up. That would later become a script logo for the Padres, the teams colors were changed to brown and orange and remained this way through the 1990 season. In 1989, the Padres took the scripted Padres logo that was used from 1985 to 1988, in 1991, the logo was changed to a silver ring with the Padres script changed from brown to blue
8.
Texas Rangers (baseball)
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The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in Arlington, Texas, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers franchise is currently a member of the West division of the American League in Major League Baseball, since 1994, the Rangers have played in Globe Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The teams name is borrowed from the law enforcement agency of the same name. After the 1971 season, the new Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, in 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. Texas then brought home their first American League pennant after beating the New York Yankees in six games, in the 2010 World Series, the franchises first, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions the year, then lost the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. At the winter meetings that year, it awarded a new team to Los Angeles as well as a new team in the nations capital and this new team adopted the old Senators name, but was considered an expansion team since the Twins retained the old Senators records and history. The Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in an expansion draft, the team played the 1961 season at old Griffith Stadium before moving to District of Columbia Stadium. For most of their existence, the new Senators were the definition of futility, the teams struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators--Washington, first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League. Frank Howard, known for his home runs, was the teams most accomplished player. Ownership changed hands several times during the stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Owner Elwood Richard Quesada once wondered why he should have to pay his players because he believed they didnt belong in the majors and he later agreed to a 10-year lease at D. C. Stadium — a move that would back to haunt the Senators. In 1963, Quesada sold his stake in the club and resigned, Washington stockbrokers James Johnston and James Lemon owned the team briefly, suffering massive financial losses. Johnson died in 1967 and Lemon sold the team a year later to hotel and trucking executive Bob Short, Short named himself general manager and hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager. Although Williams had never coached or managed at any level of baseball, Williams kept them in contention for most of the season, their 86–76 record would be their only winning season in Washington. The success though was brief, as Short borrowed most of the $9.4 million he had used to pay for the team, as the Senators general manager, Short was forced to make many questionable trades to lower the debt and acquire amounts of the much-needed revenue. As a result, the team fell back into the American Leagues cellar position
9.
Ralph Kiner
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Ralph McPherran Kiner was an American Major League Baseball player. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, following his retirement, Kiner served from 1956 through 1960 as general manager of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres. He also served as an announcer for the New York Mets from the teams inception until his death, though injuries forced his retirement from active play after 10 seasons, Kiners tremendous slugging outpaced all of his National League contemporaries between the years 1946 and 1952. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975, at the time of his death, baseball writer Marty Noble named Kiner one of baseballs genuine and most charming gentlemen. Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, and raised in Alhambra, California by his mother and he was of Pennsylvania Dutch and Scots-Irish ancestry, although his maternal grandmother was Jewish. Kiner served as a U. S. Navy pilot during World War II, Kiner made his major league debut on April 12,1946, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished the season with 23 home runs, but 109 strikeouts, after the season, the Pirates convinced future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg not to retire. Greenberg gave Kiner hours of instruction, and in 1947, Kiner led the leagues with 51 home runs while striking out fewer than 100 times. Many of Kiners homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field, Kiner would later use Kiners Korner as the title of his post-game TV show in New York. In 1949 Kiner topped his 1947 total with 54 home runs and it was the highest total in the major leagues from 1939 to 1960, and the highest National League total from 1931 to 1997. It made Kiner the first National League player with two 50 plus home run seasons, Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBIs. From 1947 to 1951, Kiner topped 40 home runs and 100 RBIs each season, Kiners string of seasons leading the league in home runs reached seven in 1952, when he hit 37. This also was the last of a six consecutive seasons in which he led Major League Baseball in home runs, all under the guidance of manager Billy Meyer. He was selected to participate in the All-Star Game in six seasons,1948 to 1953. A quote variously attributed to Kiner himself, as well as to teammates talking about Kiner, was Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, footage of Kiner hitting a home run in Forbes Field can be seen in the 1951 film Angels in the Outfield. On June 4,1953, Kiner was sent to the Chicago Cubs as part of a ten-player trade. The Pirates traded Kiner, Joe Garagiola, George Metkovich, and Howie Pollet to the Cubs in exchange for Bob Addis, Toby Atwell, George Freese, Gene Hermanski, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, and $150,000. This was largely due to continued salary disputes with Pirate general manager Branch Rickey, Kiner played the rest of 1953 and all of 1954 with the Cubs, finishing his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1955
10.
Rusty Staub
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Daniel Joseph Rusty Staub is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder, designated hitter, and first baseman. He enjoyed a 23-year baseball career with 5 different teams and he was an original member of the Montreal Expos and that teams first star, though the Expos traded him after only 3 years, his enduring popularity led them to retire his number in 1993. Staub signed his first professional contract with the expansion team Houston Colt. 45s organization in 1961 and he spent the 1962 season in the Class B Carolina League, and at seasons end he was named one of the leagues all-stars. Following that season, Staub was signed to a US$100,000 Major League contract under the Bonus Rule, in his first season, at only 19 years of age, Staub played regularly, splitting time between first base and the outfield, but hit only.220. He became only the major league rookie since 1900 to play 150 games as a teenager. The following season, he hit only.216 for the Colts and was sent down to the leagues at one point. He was also an All-Star for the Astros in 1968, Staub was traded to the Expos before the start of their inaugural season in 1969 as part of a trade for Donn Clendenon and Jesús Alou. Montreal eventually dealt Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn, and $100,000 as compensation and he was embraced as the expansion teams first star, and became one of the most popular players in their history. Embraced by French Canadians because he learned their language, he was nicknamed Le Grand Orange for his red hair, the #10 worn by Staub during his first stint in Montreal was the first number retired by the Montreal Expos organization. He is also the career leader in on-base percentage, among players with 2,000 or more plate appearances with the franchise. He is also the first player to win the Expos Player of the Year award. He was batting.313 for the Mets until June 3 of that year and he played through the pain until X-Rays revealed the broken bone. Surgery was required and as a result, he went on the disabled list, the injury never quite healed right and to make matters worse, he was hit by a pitch from Ramón Hernández of the Pittsburgh Pirates early in the 1973 season. But he still led the team in RBIs, in the National League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Staub hit three home runs and had five runs batted in. In game 4 however he made an outstanding play defensively, when he robbed Dan Driessen of a hit in the 11th inning. But while making the catch in right field, he crashed into the extremely hard. The resulting injury to his shoulder forced him out of the line-up for game 5, the Mets went on to beat the heavily favored Reds to win the National League Pennant in 5 games. In the World Series the shoulder injury sat him out for game one, but he returned to the line-up for game two
