Mel Ott Essentials Positions: Rightfield Bats: Left Throws: Right Weight: 170 Height 5-9 Born: March 2, 1909 in Gretna, LA USA Died: November 21, 1958 in New Orleans, LA USA Buried: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA Debut: April 27, 1926 vs. PHI 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB Last Game: July 11,…
1909 – The Pittsburgh Pirates begin construction of their new stadium near Schenley Park near the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The state-of-the-art stadium will be named Forbes Field in honor of John Forbes, a pre-Revolutionary British general.
1909 – Catcher Lou Criger sends a telegram to Boston Red Sox fans expressing his regrets on being traded to the St. Louis Browns.
1908 – The Cardinals are busy. First they get C Admiral Schlei from the Reds for pitchers Ed Karger and Art Fromme. Then they pack off Schlei, along with P Bugs Raymond and OF Red Murray, to the Giants for veteran catcher Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan, a future Hall of Famer, will be the player-manager of the Cardinals for the next four years. Raymond lost 25 games in 1908, but a record 11 of them were by shutout.
1908 – In the first game between a Japanese and an American professional team, the Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda University in Tokyo, 5 – 0.
On October 14, 1908 The Chicago Cubs, lead by Hal Chase, appearing in their third straight world series, in front of the smallest crowd in World Series history, behind the strong pitching of Orval Overall, beat the Tigers, 2-0 in just 85 minutes to capture the Fall Classic, 4 games to 1. Overall allowed only…
Detroit outfielder Ty Cobb gets married, having departed the Tigers three days ago to attend the ceremony without the team’s permission. The 21 year-old Georgia Peach’s six-day defection during a pennant race will be described by club co-owner Frank Navin as the most arrogant act he had ever heard of in baseball.
7/14/1908: Josh Clarke of the Indians hit a homer in the first inning in New York but before the top half of the frame was completed, the game was washed out by heavy rain.
7/2/1908 – The Phillies were at the Polo Grounds to play the Giants. Mickey Doolan (listed as Doolin in contemporary sources) batted seventh and Red Dooin batted eighth. Doolan made the last out in the seventh inning but then came to the plate to start the eighth. Doolan grounded out and then umpire Cy Rigler was notified that he had batted out of turn. Rigler called Dooin out. Since Doolan had already made an out the Giants should have ignored the confusion.
1908 – The Doves and Giants split a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, with the Giants taking the opener, 6 – 3, and Boston winning the nitecap, 9 – 7. Christy Mathewson preserves Joe McGinnity’s win in the first game, pitching a perfect 9th inning; in the nitecap, he relieves Dummy Taylor in the 9th with the score 7 – 7, but the Braves score twice for the win. Fred Merkle cracks his first major league homer, against Patsy Flaherty, in the nitecap.
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