Now You Know Baseball. Doug Lennox
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The Cincinatti Reds led the NL Central by a slim half game, and the Los Angeles Dodgers were up three and a half games in the NL West.
Teams leading their divisions at the time of the strike were named division champions. The previous year’s league champions — the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays — were listed as reigning league champions going into the next season, and the Jays as reigning World Champions.
Who had the best record in baseball in 1981, but failed to make the playoffs?
The 1981 season was marred by the first-ever midseason players’ strike. Players walked out in June and didn’t return until August.
Rather than simply continuing the season with the playoff races that were in progress at the time of the strike, owners decided to split the season in two: teams leading their divisions when the strike began were automatically awarded playoff spots, while teams leading their divisions at season’s end would also make the playoffs, and there would be an extra round to determine division champions.
This worked out nicely for the teams that earned playoff spots, but for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, it was a travesty. The Cardinals’ overall record in the 1981 season was the best in the NL East, and yet, because they finished second to two different teams in each half, they missed the playoffs.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that the first baseball catcher’s mask was a fencer’s mask introduced by Harvard’s Fred Thayer in 1877? It wasn’t until 1890 that the major leagues adopted the idea of all catchers wearing protective masks.
The biggest outrage was that the Cincinnati Reds were excluded from the postseason. Not only did they have the best record in their division — they had the best record in all of baseball. But the Los Angeles Dodgers edged them by half a game in the first half, and the Astros by a game and a half in the second half.
Who was the last umpire to use an external chest protector when working behind the plate?
Nowadays umpires working home plate are required to wear a chest protector that fits under their uniforms, but for much of the 20th century the sported an external protector known as the “bubble” — a large cushion protector that they would hold in front of their bodies like a shield. National League umpires were the first to get rid of the clunky protector, and the American League followed suit in 1977.
But like many changes in sports, the outside chest protector was grandfathered out of existence. Umpires who were active at the time of the rule change were permitted to continue using the bubble for the remainder of their careers. The last umpire to use the bubble in a game was Jerry Neudecker, who retired in 1985.
Who were the Colorado Silver Bullets?
The Colorado Silver Bullets were not notable because they were sponsored by Coors Brewery. Nor were they notable because they were an all-female team. What was notable about the Silver Bullets is that they were an all-female team playing against male competition.
At first they planned to play primarily against teams from the independent Northern League, but after being shellacked in their first games in 1994, they set more modest goals, and began playing against semi-pro and amateur teams. They finished the year 6–37.
By their fourth year, 1997, the Silver Bullets had managed a winning record, 23–22, but by then the novelty of a barnstorming team of female players had worn off, and attendance had declined. Coors pulled out as a sponsor, and the team was disbanded.
Who won 20 games in his fi rst year in the majors, but failed to bring home Rookie of the Year honours?
Tom Browning’s 1985 season was one that even a veteran would take pride in. He boasted a 20–9 record with a 3.55 ERA for the Cincinnati Reds. But this was a time when the stolen base was prized, perhaps more than at any other time in baseball history, and Vince Coleman’s 110 thefts captured the hearts of voters, despite his mediocre bat. It helped that he was playing for a playoff-bound team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Coleman went on to steal more than 100 bases two more times, though he never blossomed to any great extent at the plate. Browning had some solid years, but only approached the 20-win mark once, winning 18 games in 1988.
Who managed for 27 years, winning 1,902 games, but never reached the World Series?
Sometimes you can keep on winning without winning it all. Gene Mauch had a successful career managing some outstanding ball clubs. In a career that spanned the years from 1960 to 1987, he skippered the Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, and California Angels, capturing division titles in 1982 and 1986, both times with the Angels. Sadly, his teams were unable to win in the playoffs, and Mauch never appeared in a World Series as manager.
He did come close. In 1986, the Angels were one strike away from winning the American League Championship Series in five games, but reliever Donny Moore gave up a home run to Boston’s Dave Henderson; the Sox went on to win that game, and the next two games after that. Mauch lasted only one more season as a manager.
Who was the fi rst team to sport an identifying logo?
Merchandising was not a consideration for early baseball teams. The purpose of uniforms was to distinguish one team from another. And so, logos served little purpose.
The first team to incorporate a logo into their uniforms were the Detroit Tigers, who stitched a small, red tiger on their caps in 1901.
How many women played in the Negro Leagues?
The Negro Leagues not only provided an opportunity for black men to play baseball at a professional level, it also provided an opportunity for three women to play with the men.
Toni Stone was the first of these. She made her professional debut in 1949 with the San Francisco Sea Lions. She went on to play for the New Orleans Black Pelicans and the Indianapolis Clowns, finishing her career with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1954. Stone had a female teammate on the Indianapolis squad — Marnie “Peanut” Jackson pitched for the Clowns from 1953 to 1955, going 33–8. Finally, Connie Morgan played for the Clowns, replacing Stone after she left the team.
Ironically, though they played in a league that existed because racial intolerance would not allow black players in the major leagues, the women faced discrimination because of their gender. Toni Stone may have had the worst experience — she received almost no playing time after moving from the Clowns to the Monarchs, and was hated by her teammates.
What was the name of the professional baseball league for women that began play during World War II?
In 1943, Philip K. Wrigley founded a professional league for women. The goal of the league was to maintain a profile for baseball during the war years, when many of the top male stars were overseas and public attention was drifting away.
For convenience and clarity, the women’s league is