1951 – In an exhibition game at the University of Southern California, Mickey Mantle propels a home run estimated at 654 to 660 feet. The shot clears Bovard Field and then goes the width of a practice football field before landing. Mantle has two homers, a bases-loaded triple, and drives in seven runs as the Yankees flunk the Trojans, 15 – 1.
During a spring exhibition game against the University of Southern California at Bovard Field, Mickey Mantle hits a home run which is estimated to travel 650 feet. The rookie’s performance, which includes a single, triple, and another homer, is one of the highlights of the Yankees’ first ever West Coast trip.
1951 – Hall of Fame player/manager Eddie Collins dies in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 63. Collins batted .333 and stole 744 bases over a 25-year career, and batted .328 in six World Series with the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Athletics.
1951 – The Brooklyn Dodgers sign a 21-year lease with the city of Vero Beach, Florida, for use of their spring training facilities there.
1951 – Pittsburgh Pirates left-handed first baseman Dale Long makes his first appearance as a catcher in an exhibition game against the minor league San Diego Padres.
1951 – Detroit Tigers player representative Fred Hutchinson asks that players be allowed a say in choosing the new baseball commissioner.
Brooklyn signs a 21-year lease with the City of Vero Beach to use an abandoned naval base as their spring training facility, which will become known as Dodgertown. The site will be the team’s Grapefruit League home through the 2008 season, with exhibition games taking place at the 6,000-seat Holiman Stadium.
1951 – Commissioner Happy Chandler loses his bid to remain in office. Chandler is voted down, 9-7, in a tally of owners. Chandler, who started his term as commissioner in 1945, will be succeeded by Ford Frick.
J. Edgar Hoover, longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, declines the post of baseball commissioner. President Calvin Coolidge appointed him in 1924, and the nation’s top cop remained in the FBI until his death in 1972.
Charlie Brown, who made his debut in Charles Schultz’s Peanut comic strip in last October, appears in his first baseball game. The perennial loser, who served as his team’s pitcher and manager, usually fielded the following lineup: first baseman – Shermy, second baseman – Linus, third baseman – Pig-pen, shortstop – Snoopy, right fielder – Lucy, center fielder -Patty, left fielder -Violet, and catcher – Schroeder.
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