1.
Pitcher
–
In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important defensive player, there are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and closer. The National League in Major League Baseball and the Japanese Central League are among the leagues that have not adopted the designated hitter position. In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it. If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a strike if any part of the passes through the strike zone. A check swing is when the batter begins to swing, If the batter successfully checks the swing and the pitch is out of the strike zone, it is called a ball. There are two legal pitching positions, the windup and the set position or stretch, either position may be used at any time, typically, the windup is used when the bases are empty, while the set position is used when at least one runner is on base. Each position has certain procedures that must be followed, a balk can be called on a pitcher from either position. A power pitcher is one who relies on the velocity of his pitches to succeed, generally, power pitchers record a high percentage of strikeouts. A control pitcher succeeds by throwing accurate pitches and thus records few walks, nearly all action during a game is centered on the pitcher for the defensive team. A pitchers particular style, time taken between pitches, and skill heavily influence the dynamics of the game and can determine the victor. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the box at one side of the plate. The type and sequence of pitches chosen depend upon the situation in a game. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is so important that some teams select the starting catcher for a game based on the starting pitcher. Together, the pitcher and catcher are known as the battery, although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game, and he may be followed by relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the middle reliever. In Major League Baseball, every team uses Baseball Rubbing Mud to rub game balls in before their pitchers use them in games, a skilled pitcher often throws a variety of different pitches to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well
2.
Liberty, Kentucky
–
Liberty is a home rule-class city in Casey County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county and its population was 2,168 at the 2010 U. S. census. It was founded prior to 1806 by several Revolutionary War veterans upon their military grants, in 1808, it was made the seat of Casey County owing to its central location. The post office was opened in 1814, the town was formally established by the state assembly in 1830 and incorporated in 1860. In 2012, the Kentucky Supreme Court stuck down Liberty Police using road blocks as a means for writing tickets for failure to display a city sticker, the blasted Liberty for selecting the most intrusive means possible to achieve its goal. Liberty is located in central Casey County at 37°19′16″N 84°55′50″W, in the valley of the Green River, U. S. Route 127 passes through the city, leading north 26 miles to Danville and south 21 miles to Russell Springs. According to the United States Census Bureau, Liberty has an area of 1.9 square miles, of which 0.01 square miles. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers, according to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Liberty has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,850 people,875 households, the population density was 1,059.8 per square mile. There were 979 housing units at a density of 560.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 98. 16% White,0. 70% African American,0. 22% Native American,0. 05% Asian,0. 11% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 43% of the population. 41. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 23. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 1.98 and the average family size was 2.65. The median age was 47 years, for every 100 females there were 76.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 70.9 males, the median income for a household in the city was $18,525, and the median income for a family was $27,105. Males had an income of $25,954 versus $18,173 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,269, about 24. 9% of families and 28. 3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37. 6% of those under age 18 and 28. 7% of those age 65 or over. The town is served by community station WIHE-LP and full-power stations WKDO. Carl Mays, Major League Baseball pitcher William N. Sweeney, congressman from Kentucky Wallace Wilkinson, governor of Kentucky City of Liberty official website Casey County Apple Festival
3.
El Cajon, California
–
El Cajon is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. In a valley surrounded by mountains, the city has acquired the nickname of The Big Box and its name originated similarly, from the Spanish phrase el cajón, which means the box or the drawer. El Cajon, Spanish for the big box, was first recorded on September 10,1821, the name appeared on maps in 1873 and 1875, shortened to Cajon, until the modern town developed in which the post office was named Elcajon. In 1905, the name was again expanded to El Cajon under the insistence of California banker and historian. El Cajon is located at 32°47′54″N 116°57′36″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.4 square miles, all land. It is bordered by San Diego and La Mesa on the west, Spring Valley on the south, Santee on the north and it includes the neighborhoods of Fletcher Hills, Bostonia, and Rancho San Diego. Under the Köppen climate classification system, El Cajon straddles areas of Mediterranean climate, as a result, it is often described as arid Mediterranean and semi-arid Steppe. Like most inland areas in Southern California, the climate varies dramatically within a short distance, El Cajons climate has greater extremes compared to coastal San Diego. The farther east from the coast, the more arid the climate gets, until one reaches the mountains, El Cajons climate is warm during summer with mean temperatures averaging 70.1 °F or higher and cool during winter with mean temperatures averaging 55.4 °F or higher. The warmest month of the year is August with an maximum temperature of 88.1 °F. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be moderate with a difference of 24 °F during the summer. The annual average precipitation at El Cajon is 11.96 inches, rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the winter months, but rare in summer. The wettest month of the year is December with a rainfall of 3.80 inches. The record high temperature was 113 °F on June 14,1917, September 1,1955, July 22,2006, the record low temperature was 19 °F on January 8,1913. The wettest year was 1941 with 28.14 inches and the dryest year was 1989 with 1.51 inches, the most rainfall in one month was 11.43 inches in January 1993. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 5.60 inches on January 27,1916, a rare snowfall in November 1992 totaled 0.3 inches. 3 inches of snow covered the ground in January 1882, during Spanish rule, the government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English word ranch is derived. Land grants were made to the Roman Catholic Church which set up numerous missions throughout the region, in the early nineteenth century, mission padres search for pasture land led them to the El Cajon Valley
4.
Earned run average
–
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched, runs resulting from defensive errors are recorded as unearned runs and omitted from ERA calculations. Henry Chadwick is credited with devising the statistic, which caught on as a measure of pitching effectiveness after relief pitching came into vogue in the 1900s. Some criterion was needed to capture the apportionment of earned-run responsibility for a pitcher in games that saw contributions from other pitchers for the same team, a pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter who reaches base while batting against that pitcher. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912, recently written baseball encyclopedias display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro League pitchers are often rated by RA, or total runs allowed, as with batting average, the definition of a good ERA varies from year to year. During the dead-ball era of the 1900s and 1910s, an ERA below 2.00 was considered good, in the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned, as other influences such as ballparks with different dimensions were introduced. Today, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good, the all-time record for the lowest single season earned run average by a pitcher pitching 300 or more innings is 1.12, set by Bob Gibson in 1968. The record for the lowest career earned run average is 1.82, held by Ed Walsh, but a purported record based on so few innings pitched is highly misleading. Over the years, more than a dozen part-time pitchers have pitched 105 or more innings and had a run average lower than 0.86. Some sources may list players with infinite ERAs and this can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter. Additionally, an undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season and it is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA, even though it is more akin to the highest. At times it can be misleading to judge relief pitchers solely on ERA, because they are charged only for runs scored by batters who reached base while batting against them. Thus, if a pitcher enters the game with his team leading by 1 run, with 2 outs and the bases loaded. If he retires the batter, his ERA for that game will be 0.00 despite having surrendered the lead. Starting pitchers operate under the rules but are not called upon to start pitching with runners already on base. The relievers freedom to use their energy for a few innings, or even for just a few batters. ERA, taken by itself, can also be misleading when trying to objectively judge starting pitchers, the advent of the designated hitter rule in the American League in 1973 made the pitching environment significantly different
5.
Strikeout
–
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
6.
Boston Red Sox
–
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The Red Sox have won eight World Series championships and have played in 13, founded in 1901 as one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the Red Sox home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912. The Red Sox name was chosen by the owner, John I. Taylor, around 1908, following the lead of previous teams that had known as the Boston Red Stockings. Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. Following their victory in the 2013 World Series, they became the first team to win three World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004 and 2007. Red Sox history has also marked by the teams intense rivalry with the Yankees. The Boston Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Liverpool F. C. of the Premier League in England. The Red Sox are consistently one of the top MLB teams in road attendance. From May 15,2003 to April 10,2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games for a professional sports record. Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline has become an anthem for the Red Sox, the name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning 1908. Sox had been adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings. The team name Red Sox had previously used as early as 1888 by a colored team from Norfolk. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, the official Spanish site uses the variant Los Red Sox. The Red Stockings nickname was first used by a team by the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, the Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. Other names were used before Boston officially adopted the nickname Braves in 1912
7.
New York Yankees
–
The Essendon Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League, the sports premier competition. Formed in 1871 as a club and playing as a senior club since 1878. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, dyson Heppell is the current team captain. A founding member club of both the Victorian Football Association, in 1877, and the Victorian Football League, in 1896, the club claims to have over at least one million supporters Australia wide. Essendon has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition, the club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken, the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon club and his son, Alex, Alex would later become president of the newly formed VFL. Alexs cousin, Collier, who had played with Melbourne, was the teams first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton second twenty on 7 June 1873, Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the junior members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its matches at Flemington Hill. In 1878, Essendon played in the first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a field at Flemington Hill. In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white, in 1883 the team played four matches in Adelaide. In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892,1893 and 1894, one of the clubs greatest players, Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period. Essendon was undefeated in the 1893 season, at the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League. Essendons first VFL game was in 1897 was against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong, Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final, the club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively. The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 and it was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon
8.
Cincinnati Reds
–
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. They were a member of the American Association in 1882. The Reds played in the NL West division from 1969 to 1993 and they have won five World Series titles, nine NL pennants, one AA pennant, and 10 division titles. The team plays its games at Great American Ball Park. Bob Castellini has been executive officer since 2006. The origins of the modern Cincinnati Reds can be traced to the expulsion of a team bearing that name. Both were important activities to entice the citys large German population, while Hulbert made clear his distaste for both beer and Sunday baseball at the founding of the league, neither practice was actually against league rules in those early years. On October 6,1880, however, seven of the eight team owners pledged at a league meeting to formally ban both beer and Sunday baseball at the regular league meeting that December. Only Cincinnati president W. H. Kennett refused to sign the pledge, when these attempts failed, he formed a new independent ballclub known as the Red Stockings in the Spring of 1881, and brought the team to St. Louis for a weekend exhibition. The Reds first game was a 12–3 victory over the St. Louis club, upon arriving in the city, however, Caylor and Thorner discovered that no other owners had decided to accept the invitation, with even Phillips not bothering to attend his own meeting. By chance, the duo met a former pitcher named Al Pratt, the ploy worked, and the American Association was officially formed at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati with the new Reds a charter member with Thorner as president. The club never placed higher than second or lower than fifth for the rest of its tenure in the American Association, the National League was happy to accept the teams in part due to the emergence of the new Players League. This new league, a failed attempt to break the reserve clause in baseball. Because the National League decided to expand while the American Association was weakening and it was also at this time that the team first shortened their name from Red Stockings to Reds. The Reds wandered through the 1890s signing local stars and aging veterans, during this time, the team never finished above third place and never closer than 10½ games. At the start of the 20th century, the Reds had hitting stars Sam Crawford, seymours.377 average in 1905 was the first individual batting crown won by a Red. In 1911, Bob Bescher stole 81 bases, which is still a team record, like the previous decade, the 1900s were not kind to the Reds, as much of the decade was spent in the leagues second division
9.
History of the New York Giants (baseball)
–
The San Francisco Giants existed in the New York metropolitan area from 1883–1957. Prior to the start of the 1958 season, the moved to San Francisco, California. During the clubs tenure in New York, it won five of the franchises eight World Series wins and 17 of its 24 National League pennants, for most of that time, the Giants played home games in the Polo Grounds in the Upper Manhattan region of New York City. The Giants had intense rivalries with their rivals, the New York Yankees. The New York-Brooklyn rivalry soon evolved into the Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry, numerous inductees of the Baseball Hall of Fame played for the New York Giants, including John McGraw, Mel Ott, Bill Terry, Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, and Travis Jackson. The Giants began as the baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie, the Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association. Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, louis Browns in an early incarnation of the World Series. They repeated as champions the year with a pennant and World Series victory over the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It is said that one particularly satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mutrie stormed into the dressing room and exclaimed. From then on, the club was known as the Giants, the Giants original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, also dates from this early era. It was originally located north of Central Park adjacent to Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, the Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 &1889. But nearly all of the Giants stars jumped to the upstart Players League, whose New York franchise was named the Giants. The new team built a stadium next door to the Polo Grounds. With a decimated roster, the NL Giants finished a distant sixth, attendance took a nosedive, and the financial strain affected Days tobacco business as well. The Players League dissolved after the season, and Day sold a minority interest in his NL Giants to the defunct PL Giants principal backer, as a condition of the sale, Day had to fire Mutrie as manager. Although the Giants rebounded to third in 1891, Day was forced to sell a controlling interest to Talcott at the end of the season. Four years later, Talcott sold the Giants to Andrew Freedman, when Freedman offered Rusie only $2,500 for 1896, the disgruntled hurler sat out the entire season
10.
World Series
–
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League champion team and the National League champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a playoff. As the series is played in October, during the season in North America. As of 2016, the World Series has been contested 112 times, with the AL winning 64, the 2016 World Series took place between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Seven games were played, with the Cubs victorious after game seven, the final score was 8–7, the game went into extra innings after a tied score of 6–6. This was the third World Series won by the Cubs, as well as their first title since 1908, in the National League, the St. As of 2016, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in 1998,1999, all championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, the number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884, to a high of fifteen in 1887. Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game, the series was promoted and referred to as The Championship of the United States, Worlds Championship Series, or Worlds Series for short. In his book Krakatoa, The Day the World Exploded, August 27,1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper, but this view is disputed. Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on a basis with the post-19th-century series. After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903, following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions and this scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893—and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969—the pennant was awarded to the club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–1897, the league played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, in 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and these series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s Worlds Series matches had been
11.
1916 World Series
–
In the 1916 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. Casey Stengel shone on offense for the Robins in the 1916 Series, the Soxs Babe Ruth pitched thirteen shutout innings in Game 2, starting a consecutive scoreless innings streak that would reach 29 in 1918. As with the 1915 Series, the Red Sox played their games at the larger Braves Field. Brooklyn fielded some strong teams under their manager and namesake Wilbert Robinson in the late 1910s, the Robins, also interchangeably called the Dodgers, would win the pennant again in 1920, but the American League teams were generally stronger during that interval. It would be 39 years before the Dodgers would win their first World Series title in 1955, the Series had the longest game in terms of innings in World Series history until Game 3 of the 2005 World Series. AL Boston Red Sox vs. NL Brooklyn Robins Until the ninth, holding a comfortable 6-1 lead, a walk, hit batter, error and bases-full walk to Fred Merkle finally forced the Red Sox to call on Carl Mays from the bullpen to preserve a 6-5 win. The Robins scored in the top of the first on a home run by Hy Myers. The game remained 1–1 until the bottom of the 14th, when the Red Sox won it on a single by Del Gainer. A seventh-inning home run by Larry Gardner chased Brooklyn starter Jack Coombs, jeff Pfeffer came through with 2.2 innings of hitless relief to save the victory for Coombs. Brooklyns first three batters reached safely off Dutch Leonard in a two-run first inning, but thats all the Dodgers would get off him. Larry Gardners second home run in two days was a one to left-center that scored two teammates ahead of him, giving Leonard all hed need. The final game was over in a snappy 1 hour,43 minutes, Boston scratched out a run on a walk, sacrifice bunt, groundout and passed ball. The Red Sox added more in the third, thanks to an error and a Chick Shorten RBI single, casey Stengel led off the Dodger ninth with a hit, but Shore allowed no more. 1916 World Series, Boston Red Sox over Brooklyn Robins Cohen, Richard M. Neft, the World Series, Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. Archived from the original on 2008
12.
1918 World Series
–
The 1918 World Series featured the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The Series victory for the Red Sox was their fifth in five tries, the Red Sox scored only nine runs in the entire Series, the fewest runs by the winning team in World Series history. Along with the 1906 and 1907 World Series, the 1918 World Series is one of only three Fall Classics where neither team hit a home run, the 1918 Series was played under several metaphorical dark clouds. The Series was marred by players threatening to strike due to low gate receipts, the Red Sox had played their home games in the 1915 and 1916 World Series in the more expansive Braves Field, but they returned to Fenway Park for the 1918 series. The 1918 World Series marked the first time The Star Spangled Banner was performed at a league game. During the seventh-inning stretch of Game 1, the band playing the song because the country was involved in World War I. The song would be named the national anthem of the United States in 1931, the winning pitcher of Game 1 was Babe Ruth, who pitched a shutout. The 1918 championship would be the last Red Sox win until 2004, the drought of 86 years was often attributed to the Curse of the Bambino. The alleged curse came to be when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee traded the superbly talented, the Cubs would not win their next World Series until 2016. The Red Sox, who had won the American League but lost the Series in 1946,1967,1975, of note, Ted Williams was born August 30,1918, and so was 12 days old when the Red Sox clinched the victory in this Series. He was part of Bostons next appearance in 1946, the only World Series he played in and he died in 2002, two years before the Red Sox next Series championship. After Game 6, it would be some 87 years until the Cubs, a three-game interleague matchup at Wrigley Field began June 10,2005, and was Bostons first ever visit to the park. The Cubs would not return to Fenway Park for nearly 94 years until a three-game interleague matchup beginning May 20,2011, † For the first time in the Series, all four umpires worked in the infield on a rotating basis. In previous Series from 1909 through 1917, two of the four umpires had been positioned in the outfield for each game, in addition to the plate umpire. AL Boston Red Sox vs. NL Chicago Cubs Game 1 went to the Red Sox, 1–0, stuffy McInnis knocked in the games only run, driving in Dave Shean with a fourth-inning single off Hippo Vaughn. The Cubs rebounded to knot the Series with a 3–1 victory in Game 2 the next day, tyler himself hit a two-run single in the second inning to make the score 3–0 and carried a shutout into the ninth inning, when the Red Sox scored their only run. The series remained in Chicago for Game 3 due to restrictions on travel. The Red Sox emerged victorious, 2–1, and took a 2–1 lead in the Series, wally Schang and Everett Scotts back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning were all Boston needed for the win
13.
1923 World Series
–
In the 1923 World Series, the New York Yankees beat the New York Giants in six games. This would be the first of the Yankees 27 World Series championships, the Yankees opened their new stadium in April on a home run by Babe Ruth, setting the tone for the season and this Series, in which Ruth hit three home runs along with drawing eight walks. In Game 2, second baseman, Aaron Ward hit a home run, the Giants one bright spot was Old Casey Stengel, who hit game-winning homers in each of the two Giants victories. In typically eccentric Stengel fashion, one of them was inside-the-park at the cavernous Yankee Stadium, and his shoe came loose during his run around the bases. Stengel was traded after the season, leading him to later in life. A quarter century later, Stengel would take on the role of Yankees manager, in Game 6, The Yankees overcame the 4–1 deficit by staging a five-run rally in the eighth inning to clinch the series. The three consecutive matchups between the Yankees and Giants marked the time, that three straight World Series featured the same two clubs. Babe Ruth had a series, his first great one as a Yankee, batted.368. Neither Lou Gehrig, Bill Terry nor Hack Wilson played in the Series and these future Hall of Famers were each in their first season and had played no more than thirteen games in the regular season. Gehrig had been called up from Hartford to play for the Yankees that year, in that time, however, a team had to have the permission of both the commissioner and the opposing teams manager to make a roster change so late in the season eligible for postseason play. The Yankees gained the permission of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis who then told them to get John McGraws permission. McGraw and the Yankees had a history of disdain after both teams had shared a stadium and the Giants had won both the 1921 and 1922 World Series from New York. Therefore, he declined permission and Gehrig would not be allowed to participate in the series which otherwise would have been his first World Series, as noted baseball historian John Thorn said, As if the Yankees needed any more reason to hate John McGraw. AL New York Yankees vs. NL New York Giants A ninth-inning inside-the-park homer by Casey Stengel beat the Yankees on their home field, Babe Ruth scored in the first inning on a Bob Meusel double. Yankee center fielder Whitey Witts two-run single in the inning made it 3-0. The Giants fought back with a third, knocking out Yankee starter Waite Hoyt from the game. It was tied at 4-4 in the ninth until Casey came to bat, after trading solo home runs by Aaron Ward and Irish Meusel, a pair of Babe Ruth blasts in the fourth and fifth innings turned out to be the difference. A scoreless pitching duel lasted until the inning, when Casey Stengel struck again
14.
Major League Baseball
–
Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
15.
Beanball
–
Beanball is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking him such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the players head. A pitcher who throws beanballs often is known as a headhunter, in cricket, the equivalent term is beamer. In baseball, a beanball is a pitch, similar to a brushback pitch, some pitchers have been known to throw beanballs in response to giving up home runs. Teams with heated rivalries often find several beanballs exchanged in a season, beanballs can sometimes lead to fights, charging the mound, and bench-clearing brawls. Throwing at batters can sometimes lead to suspension for a number of games as well, managers may also be ejected if, in the umpires judgment, they encouraged their pitcher to throw a beanball. Several players careers have been impaired or derailed after being struck with a beanball, hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane was knocked unconscious and later hospitalized for 7 days in 1937, and never played another game. In 1941, Dodgers outfielder Pete Reiser was hospitalized for a month, lou Boudreau played only sporadically after being beaned in 1951, and retired the following season. Tony Conigliaro missed over a year after being hit in the eye, dickie Thon returned from a gruesome beaning in 1984, but never matched his earlier success. On September 28,1995, Kirby Puckett, the superstar outfielder of the Minnesota Twins, was struck in the cheek by a Dennis Martínez fastball, breaking his jaw and loosening two teeth. It would be his last game, during spring training the following year he developed glaucoma, in 2005, the Cubs Adam Greenberg was hit in the head with the first pitch that he faced in his major league career. Ron Santo, who thought he had lost an eye when his cheekbone was broken by a pitch in 1966 and he described his attitude, It was like, Here, hit me again. When you get older, maybe fear does set in, nobody will admit that, but it does happen. Don Zimmer, who was killed by a beanball in 1953 and had four metal buttons surgically implanted in his skull, recounted. You never know how youre going to react until you come back, only one player has died after being hit in the head. Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit by a pitch thrown by submarine pitcher and he died 12 hours later and is noted as the only player to have been killed by a pitch. The following spring, Chapmans teammates experimented with leather helmets similar to those used by football players. Catcher Roger Bresnahan is cited as one of the first players to construct and wear a helmet, starting in 1956, Major League Baseball required that all batters either wear batting helmets or protective plastic liners underneath their caps. Full helmets were mandatory in 1971, and wearing a model with an earflap has been required since 1983
16.
Ray Chapman
–
Raymond Johnson Ray Chapman was an American baseball player, spending his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians. Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and he remains the only Major League Baseball player to have died from an injury received during an MLB game. Chapmans death was one of the examples used to emphasize the need for wearing batting helmets. Chapman was born in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, and raised in Herrin and he broke into the Major Leagues in 1912 with the Cleveland team, then known as the Naps. Chapman led the American League in runs scored and walks in 1918, a top-notch bunter, Chapman is sixth on the all-time list for sacrifice hits and holds the single season record with 67 in 1917. Only Stuffy McInnis has more career sacrifices as a right-handed batter, Chapman was also an excellent shortstop who led the league in putouts three times and assists once. He batted.300 three times, and led the Indians in stolen bases four times, in 1917, he set a team record of 52 stolen bases, which stood until 1980. He was hitting.303 with 97 runs scored when he died and he was one of the few players whom Ty Cobb considered a friend. There was conjecture that 1920 was going to be Chapmans last year as a pro baseball player, shortly before the season began, Chapman married Kathleen Daly, who was the daughter of a prominent Cleveland businessman. Chapman had indicated he was going to retire to devote himself to the business into which he was marrying. At the time of Chapmans death, part of every job was to dirty up a new ball the moment it was thrown onto the field. By turns, they smeared it with dirt, licorice, and tobacco juice, it was deliberately scuffed, sandpapered, scarred, cut, even spiked. The result was a misshapen, earth-colored ball that traveled through the air erratically, tended to soften in the later innings and this practice is believed to have contributed to Chapmans death. He was struck with a pitch by Carl Mays on August 16,1920, Mays threw with a submarine delivery, and it was the top of the fifth inning, in the late afternoon. Eyewitnesses recounted that Chapman never moved out of the way of the pitch, Chapman didnt react at all, said Rod Nelson of the Society of American Baseball Research. It was at twilight and it froze him, the sound of the ball smashing into Chapmans skull was so loud that Mays thought it had hit the end of Chapmans bat, so he fielded the ball and threw to first base. Mike Sowell, in his book The Pitch That Killed, states that first baseman Wally Pipp caught Mays throw to first, Chapman never took any steps, but rather slowly collapsed to his knees and then to the ground with blood pouring out of his left ear. The umpire quickly called for doctors in the stands to come to Chapmans aid, eventually Chapman was able to stand and to try to walk off the field, but mumbled when he attempted to speak
17.
Cleveland Indians
–
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
18.
Christy Mathewson
–
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
19.
Submarine (baseball)
–
The upside down release of the submariner causes balls to move differently from pitches generated by other arm slots. Gravity plays a significant role, for the ball must be thrown considerably above the strike zone. The sinking motion of the submariner’s fastball is enhanced by forward rotation, Submarine pitches are often the toughest for same-side batters to hit. The rarity of submarine pitchers is almost certainly attributable to its unusual technique and it is not typically a natural style of throwing—it is often a learned style—and because the vast majority of pitchers use an overarm motion, most young pitchers are encouraged to throw overhand. Past major league submariners include Carl Mays, Ted Abernathy, Elden Auker, Chad Bradford, Mark Eichhorn, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, steve Olin was also a submarine pitcher. Shunsuke Watanabe of the Lancaster Barnstormers is known as Mr. Submarine in Japan, Watanabe has an even lower release point than the typical submarine pitcher, dropping his pivot knee so low that it scrapes the ground. He now wears a pad under his uniform to avoid injuring his knee and his release is so low that his knuckles often become raw from their periodic drag on the ground
20.
Ty Cobb
–
Tyrus Raymond Ty Cobb, nicknamed The Georgia Peach, was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia, Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the teams player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1999, editors at the Sporting News ranked Ty Cobb 3rd on their list of Baseballs 100 Greatest Players, Cobb is widely credited with setting 90 MLB records during his career. He still holds records as of the end of the 2016 season, including the highest career batting average. He still holds the record for stealing home and for stealing second base, third base, and home in succession. Cobb ranks fifth all-time in number of games played and committed 271 errors, Cobbs legacy as an athlete has sometimes been overshadowed by his surly temperament and aggressive playing style, which was described by the Detroit Free Press as daring to the point of dementia. Cobb himself wrote shortly before his death, In legend I am a sadistic, Cobb was notorious for sliding into bases feet first, with his spikes high. Cobb was born in 1886 in Narrows, Georgia, a rural community of farmers that was not an official city or village at the time. He was the first of three born to William Herschel Cobb and Amanda Chitwood Cobb. Cobbs father was a state senator, when he was still an infant, his parents moved to nearby Royston, where he was raised. He played his first years in organized baseball for the Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and he then tried out for the Anniston Steelers of the semipro Tennessee–Alabama League, with his fathers stern admonition ringing in his ears, Dont come home a failure. Eventually, Rice wrote a note in the Journal that a young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent. After about three months, Cobb returned to the Tourists and finished the season hitting.237 in 35 games, in August 1905, the management of the Tourists sold Cobb to the American Leagues Detroit Tigers for US$750. On August 8,1905, Cobbs mother fatally shot his father with a pistol that his father had purchased for her, court records indicate that Mr. Cobb had suspected his wife of infidelity and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act. She saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder and, acting in self-defense, shot, Mrs. Cobb was charged with murder and then released on a $7,000 recognizance bond. She was acquitted on March 31,1906, Cobb later attributed his ferocious play to his late father, saying, I did it for my father. He never got to see me play, but I knew he was watching me, and I never let him down. In 1911, Cobb moved to Detroits architecturally significant and now historically protected Woodbridge neighborhood, the Victorian duplex in which Cobb lived still stands
21.
Wally Pipp
–
Walter Clement Pipp was an American professional baseball player. A first baseman, Pipp played in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, after appearing in 12 games for the Tigers in 1913 and playing in the minor leagues in 1914, he was purchased by the Yankees before the 1915 season. They made him their starting first baseman and he and Home Run Baker led an improved Yankee lineup that led the league in home runs. He led the American League in home runs in 1916 and 1917, with Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Joe Dugan, and Waite Hoyt, the Yankees won three consecutive American League pennants from 1921 through 1923, and won the 1923 World Series. In 1925, he lost his role to Lou Gehrig. Pipp is considered to be one of the best power hitters of the dead ball era, Pipp is now best remembered as the man who lost his starting role to Lou Gehrig at the beginning of Gehrigs streak of 2,130 consecutive games. According to a legend, Pipp asked to sit due to a headache. Walter Clement Pipp was born on February 17,1893, in Chicago, Illinois, to Pauline and he was raised as a Roman Catholic, and different sources describe him as being of Irish or German ancestry. He was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as a child, Pipp said that he was hit in the head with a hockey puck, which resulted in headaches throughout his life. Pipp enrolled at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. where he studied architecture, in 1912, Pipp made his debut in professional baseball with the Kalamazoo Celery Champs of the Class D Southern Michigan League. In 68 games played, he had a.270 batting average, the Detroit Tigers of the American League purchased his contract late in the 1912 season. Pipp attempted to hold out from the Tigers, demanding a portion of the purchase price, after graduating from college, Pipp ended his holdout without receiving a share of the purchase price. Pipp made his league debut with the Tigers on June 29,1913. After playing 12 games for Detroit, batting.161, the Tigers reassigned Pipp to the Providence Grays of the Class AA International League. He committed seven errors in 14 games for Providence, and was demoted to the Scranton Miners of the Class B New York State League, in 1914, Pipp played for the Rochester Hustlers of the International League. Pipp had a.314 batting average and 27 triples and he led all batters in the league with 15 home runs, a.526 slugging percentage, and 290 total bases. In January 1915, Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast LHommedieu Huston agreed to purchase the New York Yankees of the American League, as part of the agreement, the other team owners in the American League agreed to help the Yankees restock their system with prospects. One of the deals Ruppert and Huston negotiated was their purchase of Pipp, after the purchase was completed, all owners, with the exception of Frank Navin, the owner of the Tigers, broke their word
22.
Hit by pitch
–
In baseball, hit by pitch is a situation in which a batter or his clothing or equipment is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher, the batter is called a hit batsman. A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided that he made an honest effort to avoid the pitch, being hit by a pitch is often caused by a batter standing too close to, or crowding, home plate. If all these conditions are met, the ball is dead, rule 5.09 further clarifies that a hit by pitch is also called when a pitch touches a batters clothing. In the case where a batter swings and the pitch hits him anyway, the ball is dead and a strike is called. If the batter does not attempt to avoid the pitch, he is not awarded first base, and the pitch is ruled either a strike if in the strike zone or a ball if out of the strike zone. A famous instance of a non-hit by pitch was on May 31,1968, umpire Harry Wendelstedt ruled that Dietz made no effort to avoid the pitch, Dietz proceeded to fly out, and Drysdales scoreless streak continued to a then-record 58 2⁄3 innings. A hit-by-pitch can also be called on a pitch that has first touched the ground before hitting the batter. Such a bouncing pitch is like any other, and if a batter is hit by such a pitch, a batter hit by a pitch with the bases loaded is also credited with an RBI per MLB rule 10.04. A pitch ruled a hit by pitch is recorded as a ball in the pitch count, since by definition the ball must be outside the strike zone. The rule awarding first base to a hit by a pitch was instituted in 1887. Headhunter is a term for pitchers who have a reputation for throwing these kinds of pitches. However, throwing at a batter intentionally is illegal, and can be very dangerous, when an umpire suspects that a pitcher has thrown at a batter intentionally, but is not certain, a warning is issued to the pitcher and the managers of both teams. From that point on, any pitch thrown at a batter can cause the pitcher, serious offenses such as a ball thrown at the head can result in the immediate ejection of the pitcher, and the manager if he ordered the beanball, even without a warning. If the umpire is certain that the pitcher intentionally hit the batter with the pitch, managers may also order a pitcher to throw such a pitch. These pitches are often aimed at the back and slower than normal. The opposing team hits a batter in retaliation for this act. Such plunking duels are more common in the American League than in the National League, because in the NL the pitchers must bat for themselves and open themselves up to direct retaliation. The all-time record for a player being hit by a pitch is held by Hughie Jennings, the modern-day record is held by Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros, who had 285 as of the end of the 2007 season when he retired
23.
Tris Speaker
–
Tristram Edgar Speaker, nicknamed The Grey Eagle, was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball and his 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. His 3,514 hits are fifth in the all-time hits list, defensively, Speaker holds career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. His fielding glove was known as the place where triples go to die, after playing in the minor leagues in Texas and Arkansas, Speaker debuted with the Boston Red Sox in 1907. He became the center fielder by 1909 and led the Red Sox to World Series championships in 1912 and 1915. In 1915, Speakers batting average dropped to.322 from.338 the previous season, as player-manager for Cleveland, he led the team to its first World Series title. In ten of his seasons with Cleveland, he finished with a batting average greater than.350. Speaker resigned as Clevelands manager in 1926 after he and Ty Cobb faced game fixing allegations, during his managerial stint in Cleveland, Speaker introduced the platoon system in the major leagues. Speaker played with the Washington Senators in 1927 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928, then became a minor league manager and he later held several roles for the Cleveland Indians. Late in life, Speaker led a short-lived indoor baseball league, ran a liquor business, worked in sales. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937 and he was named 27th in the Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players and was also included in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Speaker was born on April 4,1888, in Hubbard, Texas, to Archie, as a youth, Speaker broke his arm after he fell from a horse, the injury forced him to become left-handed. In 1905, Speaker played a year of baseball for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute. He worked on a ranch before beginning his professional baseball career, Speakers abilities drew the interest of Doak Roberts, owner of the Cleburne Railroaders of the Texas League, in 1906. After losing several games as a pitcher, Speaker converted to outfielder to replace a Cleburne player who had struck in the head with a pitch. Speakers mother opposed his participation in the leagues, saying that they reminded her of slavery. Though she relented, for several years Mrs. Speaker questioned why her son had not stayed home and he performed well for the Texas Leagues Houston Buffaloes in 1907, but his mother stated that she would never allow him to go to the Boston Americans. Roberts sold the youngster to the Americans for $750 or $800, Speaker played in seven games for the Americans in 1907, with three hits in 19 at bats for a.158 average
