Harrisburg Baseball

Today marks the 75th anniversary of 29-year-old first baseman Eddie Waitkus – the original “Natural” – being shot in a Chicago hotel room by a deranged, rifle-toting, 19-year-old fan named Ruth Ann Steinhagen.

Waitkus, traded the previous offseason from Steinhagen's beloved Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies, is batting .306 at the time and misses the rest of the 1949 season before ...

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Already back in the minor leagues after seven seasons in the majors, Tommie Aaron is named the manager of the Atlanta Braves’ Class AA team in Savannah, Ga., 51 years ago today.

At the time, the 33-year-old Aaron – the younger brother of future Hall of Famer Hank Aaron – is playing first base for the Braves’ Class AA team when he replaces ...

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Billy Cox, the magician of a third baseman from Newport, Pa., says enough is enough 69 years ago today as the Baltimore Orioles trade him to Cleveland.

Rather than report to the Indians, Cox walks away from ...

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Warren Spahn, arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher in history, has a busy Saturday afternoon 72 years ago today as he ties a National League record with 18 strikeouts in the Boston Braves’ 3-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs in 15 innings at Braves Field.

Spahn also accounts for Boston’s lone run with a home run off Willie Ramsdell to lead off the bottom of the sixth.

Spahn eventually gets tagged with the loss after a two-out, two-run triple by Hal Jeffcoat in the top of the 15th snaps the 1-1 tie.

A footnote for the same day in 1952 comes when Braves scout Dewey Griggs signs an ...

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Philadelphia Athletics outfielder George Hall becomes the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle 148 years ago today.

A year later – in 1877, and more than 40 years before anyone hears of the infamous Black Sox – Hall becomes the first player to be banned from baseball after ...

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Today marks what would have been the 98th birthday for often-great and most definitely underappreciated Don Newcombe.

Five days after his 18th birthday in 1944 and five years before starting his outstanding pitching career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Newcombe wins his first pro game with the Newark Eagles in a 9-2 victory over future Hall of Famer Josh Gibson and the Homestead Grays.

The game takes place before ...

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Happy 58th birthday today to former Harrisburg pitcher and onetime Senators pitching coach Randy Tomlin, as well as the 46th birthday for former Senators infielder Edgar Gonzalez, who eventually reaches the majors to play in San Diego with his All-Star brother, Adrian Gonzalez.

Also turning 24 today is Trey Lipscomb, an infielder with the Senators in 2023 who now is playing in the majors with the Washington Nationals.

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Today marks the 76th anniversary of Babe Ruth's final appearance at Yankee Stadium before New York’s game against Cleveland on a damp Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.

The 53-year-old Ruth, dying from throat cancer, is joined at the 25th anniversary reunion by his teammates from 1923 – the year the original Yankee Stadium opens with Ruth hitting the first home run in the new ballpark.

On this day in 1948, a crowd of 49,641 turns out to ...

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The Los Angeles Dodgers 51 years ago today first put together an infield alignment of first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey.

The quartet plays together for the next 8½ seasons, the longest such run for any infield in baseball history.

The first moment together comes when ...

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One day shy of his fourth anniversary in joining the Phillies in 1934, pitcher Bucky Walters is traded 86 years ago today by Philadelphia to the Cincinnati Reds for catcher Spud Davis, pitcher Al Hollingsworth and $50,000.

While Walters pitches well enough to become an All-Star with the moribund Phillies, his career takes off in Cincinnati, where he goes ...

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Boston’s historic Fenway Park hosts its first night game 77 years ago today with the Red Sox beating the Chicago White Sox 5-3 before a capacity crowd of 34,510.

Historians note that Dave Philley, the White Sox’s No. 2 hitter, collects the first nighttime hit at Fenway with a one-out single in the first inning off Boston starter Boo Ferriss.

Philley finishes with four of Chicago’s 13 hits.

Not that the Red Sox care about those 13 hits as they cobble together five runs on just eight hits with all five runs coming in the fifth inning off White Sox starter Frank Papish.

The first two runs in that fifth-inning rally come on a two-out, two-run single by future Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

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Happy 30th birthday today to onetime Harrisburg Senators shortstop Osvaldo Abreu, seen here playing on City Island in a Sam Getty photo.

Abreu spends the 2017 and ’18 seasons in Harrisburg.

He is playing today for Hagerstown in the independent Atlantic League.

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Today marks the 54th anniversary of Dock Ellis' long, strange trip to San Diego, where the Pittsburgh Pirates’ sporadically brilliant pitcher no-hits the Padres 2-0 after indulging in illegal pharmaceuticals – reportedly L*D – the night before in his hometown of Los Angeles.

Ellis mistakenly is under the impression the next day is a Thursday, a scheduled off day for the Pirates between their series against the Giants in San Francisco and the one coming up in San Diego with the Padres.

Only Thursday is Ellis’ hazy world is Friday in everyone else’s reality.

Somehow, Ellis learns of this during the day on Friday and somehow ...

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The ultimate team photo is taken 85 years ago today as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., is formally dedicated.

Among those gathering for the 1939 photo are living members of the first four Hall of Fame classes – from top left, Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Napoleon Lajoie, George Sisler and Walter Johnson; bottom row from left, Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack and Cy Young.

Missing from the photo is ...

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As trades go, this one made 37 years ago today is one of the best ever made to benefit the Class AA Harrisburg Senators as the Pittsburgh Pirates send disgruntled backup outfielder Ben Abner from City Island to the St. Louis Cardinals' affiliate in the Class A Midwest League.

In return, the Pirates receive – and assign to Harrisburg – a first baseman named Ron Johns. Initially the trade is not popular among some of the locals as Abner, from nearby Mechanicsburg, Pa., is a familiar face for fans of Harrisburg’s then-new team.

The parochial sentiment disappears five days later on June 17, 1987 as Johns enjoys the single greatest night at RiverSide Stadium, going 6-for-6 with three homers, three singles and nine RBIs during a 26-9 rout of the Albany-Colonie Yankees.

Johns goes on to bat .302 with nine homers and 44 RBIs in only 40 games for the eventual Eastern League champions.

Abner ends up hitting only .210 in 34 games for the Cardinals' Class A team in Springfield.

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Happy 40th birthday today to onetime Harrisburg Senators outfielder Roger Bernadina, the only player in modern franchise history to hit two grand slams in the same season.

He eventually spends all or parts of seven seasons in the major leagues, batting .236 in 548 games for the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers.

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The Phillies’ Von Hayes becomes the first major leaguer to hit two home runs in the first inning of a game during Philadelphia’s 26-7 rout of the New York Mets 39 years ago today at Veterans Stadium.

Hayes starts the bottom of the first with a solo homer off Mets starter Tom Gorman and caps off the Phillies’ nine-run inning with ...
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Johnny Vander Meer, the Cincinnati Reds' sporadically brilliant left-hander, throws the first of his record back-to-back no-hitters 86 years ago today in beating the Boston Bees 3-0.

The Saturday afternoon game attracts a crowd of only 5,814 fans at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.

The closest Boston comes to getting a hit comes with two outs in the fourth inning when ...

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Third baseman extraordinaire Billy Cox plays the last game of his 11-year career in the majors 69 years ago today in Kansas City.

Cox, batting leadoff for Baltimore, goes 0-for-1 with a flyout and sacrifice bunt before leaving for a pinch-runner in the fourth inning of the Orioles’ 2-1 loss to the Athletics before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 7,852 at Municipal Stadium.

During his career, which starts in ...

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The Philadelphia Phillies’ Mike Schmidt hits perhaps the longest single in major league history 50 years ago today as his would-be homer in Houston’s Astrodome smacks off a public address speaker hanging 117 feet above the field and 300 feet away from home plate.

Schmidt’s first-inning drive comes off left-hander Claude Osteen – a shot to straightaway center field that falls back into play after hitting the speaker and falling 50 feet in front of Astros outfielder Cesar Cedeno.

The ball is in play, according to the Astrodome’s ground rules, but Schmidt ...

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The New York Yankees – in their second and final season as tenants at Shea Stadium while their ballpark in the Bronx is being renovated – sponsor Army Day 49 years ago tonight but not without a glitch.

OK, more than a glitch.

Frankly, the Yankees wreck parts of their temporary home as their ceremonial 21-gun salute by a detachment from Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton is performed too close to the outfield fence.

Way too close.

The result ...

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Left-handed pitcher Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest player in major league history 80 years ago today as he works two-thirds of an inning in the Cincinnati Reds’ 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 3,510 at Crosley Field.

Before he finishes his first game, Nuxhall gives up five runs on five walks and a pair of singles – the first by future Hall of Famer Stan Musial – as he makes his debut while ...

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Jack “Chief” Meyers becomes the first catcher in major league history to hit for the cycle 112 years ago today in the New York Giants’ 9-8 loss in 10 innings to the Chicago Cubs before a Monday afternoon crowd of 12,000 at the Polo Grounds.

Meyers homers to deep left field in the second inning off Chicago starter Lew Richie before picking up a single to center off reliever Jimmy Lavender in the sixth and a two-run triple to left off Lavender in the eighth to tie the score at 7.

He completes the cycle with ...

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A pair of former of former Harrisburg Senators pitchers are celebrating birthdays today as Julio Manon turns 51 while Matt Chico checks in at 41.

Manon plays for Harrisburg in 2001-02 before spending two seasons in the major leagues with the Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles.

Chico plays parts of four seasons in Harrisburg in 2006 and then 2009-11 while at the same time also mixing in portions of three summers in the majors with the Washington Nationals.

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Casual fans look back at the 2016 amateur draft and claim it to be devoid of talent.

For proof, they point to the first two picks of the draft – a California high school outfielder named Mickey Moniak, who the Philadelphia Phillies eight years ago today select first overall, and University of Tennessee third baseman Nick Senzel, the second pick who goes to the Cincinnati Reds.

Moniak’s career in the major leagues mostly is one of disappointment with ...

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The Houston C**t .45s and San Francisco Giants play the first Sunday night game in major league history 61 years ago today at old C**t Stadium. Hal Brown pitches 6 and one-third innings of one-hit relief to earn the victory in Houston’s 3-0 shutout of the Giants before a crowd of 17,437.

In the era before the opening of the air-conditioned Astrodome, the teams ...

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Today’s Baby Boomer Alert photo goes to Dave Parker, the longtime Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder who turns 73 today.

As in 73. Freaking. Years. Old.

Not so long ago – or so it seems – Parker is one of the premier players in baseball with a pair of National League batting titles in late 1970s on his way to hitting .305 in 11 seasons with the Pirates from 1973-83.

During his decade-plus in Pittsburgh, Parker earns four All-Star Game selections, three Gold Gloves, one National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1978 and a World Series ring in 1979.

He leaves Pittsburgh to play eight more seasons in the majors with Cincinnati, Oakland Milwaukee, Anaheim and Toronto before retiring in 1991 with a .290 batting career batting average, 2,712 total hits, three more All-Star Game selections and three Silver Slugger Awards.

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Frustrated by a 13-2 loss a day earlier to the lowly New Haven Raven, hard-driving Harrisburg manager Rick Sofield uses a scheduled day off before the Class AA All-Star break to put the Eastern League-leading Senators through an early morning workout 27 years ago today on City Island.

The players, as you can imagine, are not thrilled.

No long-term worries, though, as Sofield leads the Senators to the second of their Eastern League-record four straight championships.

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Happy birthday today a pair of former Harrisburg Senators outfielders – Noah Hall, who turns 47, and Buck Coats, now checking in at 44.

Also celebrating a birthday today is longtime Senators broadcaster Terry Byrom, now turning a spry 61.

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Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of baseball’s greatest comebacks, as well as one of the most braggadocio of bets of all time.

As the Pittsburgh Pirates – losers of six straight games – are sending 16 batters to the plate and scoring 10 runs in the top of the first inning at against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium, longtime Pittsburgh pitcher-turned-broadcaster Jim Rooker boldly announces that if the Pirates end up losing the game that, well, he will walk back to Pittsburgh.

Naturally, the Phillies rally to ...

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