April 20th belongs to...

Michael Jack Schmidt.
The greatest player in Phillies history (seen here in August 2015) owns a pair of milestones on this date:

  • He smacked the 100th home run of his career on this date in 1976 -- it came off John Candelaria of the Pirates. It was also the sizzling Schmitty's seventh home runs in seven games -- in a season he'd lead the National League in that stat for the third year in a row. The Phils went onto win the game 5-1.
  • He became the Phillies all-time leader in hits on this date in 1989. And again the highlight takes place against the Pirates. Weeks away from retiring, his 6th inning double off Mike Dunne breaks Richie Ashburn's longstanding club record for career hits.
There are several other important names with a chunk of April 20th baseball history:

1983: George Brett of the Royals blasts three home runs, including a three-run shot in the top of the 9th that pushes Kansas City past the Tigers 8 - 7.

1980: Rickey Henderson of the A's steals home for the first time in his career.

1967: Tom Seaver earns the first of his 311 lifetime victories. He pitches 7-2/3 innings, gives up eight hits and strikes out five as the Mets beat the Cubs 6 - 1 at Shea Stadium.

1966: Hank Aaron hits the 400th home run of his career off Ray Culp of the Phillies in an 8-1 Atlanta win at Connie Mack Stadium. He's the 12 player ever to reach 400.

1963: Duke Snider and Gil Hodges, longtime Brooklyn Dodger heroes, are in the Mets starting lineup for the one and only time -- as they beat the Braves 3 - 1 at the Polo Grounds. 

1957: Yogi Berra is on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. 

1939: Ted Williams gets the first hit of his career in the first game of his rookie season -- a booming 4th inning double off fellow future Hall of Famer Red Ruffing at Yankee Stadium. The game is also notable as the only one in which Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams appear together. Not yet aware he was suffering from ALS, the Iron Horse went hitless. (I don't know the schedule-making scheme used back then, but the Yankees and Sox played different opponents the next day. And by the next time the rivals met, Gehrig had taken himself out of the lineup.)

1912: Here we go with the Yankees and Red Sox again -- they meet in the first game ever played at Fenway Park. Well, actually, the guys from New York were still the Highlanders. They lost to the Boston boys 7 - 6, in 11 innings.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Avenue and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two...
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore...
Read more

Spring Training Flashbacks: Subway Series, Florida Style - 2016

Image
It's a return visit to the Mets' Florida home in Port St. Lucie, this time for a 2016 showdown with the Yankees. (Below), Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman chat during batting practice. Aaron Judge and Rob Refsnyder have their game faces on in the dugout... though neither would be in the starting lineup. (Above) A couple of Brooklyn natives that made their mark in New York baseball -- Lee Mazzilli and John Franco. (Below) Mets pitcher Josh Smoker makes friends by signing a few autographs. (Above) Mets reliever Jeurys Familia; (Below) 2nd baseman Neil Walker (Above) Curtis Granderson, one of the select few players to star for both the Yankees and Mets, getting ready for his third summer at Citi Field. (Below) Aaron Hicks came to the Yankees in a trade the previous November. 3rd baseman Chase Headley enjoying the Grapefruit League vibe, even against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. (Above) Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes watches where he hit one... so does Joe Girardi from the visitor's dugou...
Read more