August 30, 1953 at Ebbets Field Cardinal manager Eddie Stanky gets on Jackie Robinson during the Dodger 7th. The towel wrapped around Stanky’s knee is a reference to Jackie’s knee problems that had sidelined him for the previous two games. Robinson had struck out earlier in the inning, nearly falling down which prompted Stanky’s…
The Dodgers rip St. Louis, 20 – 4, with the help of two big innings. Dodger Jackie Robinson fans twice in the 3rd inning, while Gil Hodges walks twice in the 6th. Roy Campanella’s five RBIs ties the National League season mark of most RBIs by a catcher (122).
Led by OF Jim Pendleton’s three home runs, the Braves tie the Yankees’ 1939 major-league record for the most homers in a game with eight in their 19 – 4 win over Pittsburgh in the first game of a doubleheader. Pendleton is only the second rookie in history to hit three home runs in one game. In game two of the doubleheader, the Braves hit four more long balls to win 11 – 5. The 12 homers in a doubleheader shatter the previous mark of 9. Eddie Mathews’s four dingers for the day give him a National League-leading 43; he will end the season with 47 home runs, 30 of them on the road to set a major-league record.
August 27, 1953 – Three Braves minor leaguers from the Toledo Sox were named to the American Association All-Star team. They were pitcher Gene Conley, leading the Association with 21 wins; infielder Billy Klaus (#2); and outfielder Sam Jethroe (shown here scoring run).
1953 – Giants OF Dusty Rhodes, hitting just .167, connects for three home runs in a row at the Polo Grounds in a 13 – 4 win over the Cardinals. Teammate Al Dark goes 5 for 5 with his own home run.
August 23, 1953 – Don Grate, a former Milwaukee Brewer and Braves farm hand, threw a baseball 443 feet, three-and-one-half inches, breaking his own record by nine inches. Grate was also a former pro basketball player with the Sheboygan Indians of the NBL.
Phil Paine, a former Boston Braves pitcher on military service with the U.S. Air Force in Japan, becomes the first ex-major league player to play in Japan. He pitches in nine games for the Nishitetsu Lions: four wins, three losses, ERA 1.77.
Chattanooga OF Don Grate betters his 1952 record by throwing a baseball 443 feet 3 ½ inches. Glen Gorbous will beat it in 1957.
8/21/1953 – The Cardinals hit out of turn for the second time in less than a month. Playing at home against Cincinnati, the Redbirds went down in order in the first inning. Ray Jablonski was due up to start the second but Steve Bilko batted one slot early in the order. After Bilko grounded out, the Cardinals discovered the error and told the umpires who declared Jablonski out. Then Bilko hit again in his proper place and homered for the game’s first run. The Cards won, 4-0.
1953 – Major league player representatives Ralph Kiner (National League) and Allie Reynolds (American League) hire labor leader John Norman Lewis at $15,000 per annum to give legal advice to players in their negotiations with the owners.
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