At Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, NBC televises the first major league game in history on experimental station W2XBS, covering a doubleheader split in which the Reds win the first game, 5-2, and the Dodgers take the nightcap, 6-1. The network employs two cameras, one behind home plate, showing a wide view of the field, and the other on the third base line to capture the plays at first base.
The five-year ban on broadcasting games played by the New York major league teams ends when Red Barber, hired away from the Reds by Larry McPhail, calls Brooklyn’s 7-3 loss to the Giants at Ebbets Field. In 1934, the two National League teams and the Yankees agreed not to air their games on the radio, fearing the exposure would reduce the number of fans attending games.
On June 15, 1938, The first night game was played At Ebbets Field in front of 38,748 fans including Babe Ruth. Johnny Vander Meer was the starting pitcher for the visiting Cincinnati Reds. He was coming off a 3-0 No hitter vs the Boston Bees on June 11th. Vander Meer walks eight, including three one-out…
Dodger right-hander Fred Frankhouse holds the Reds hitless for 7.2 innings before a heavy downpour ends the Ebbets Field contest permanently. The right-hander’s 5-0 victory will be one of the 31 “no-no’s” erased when MLB redefines a no-hitter in 1991 as a game in which a pitcher throws nine innings or more without giving up a hit.
On June 6, 1937, Woody English of the Brooklyn Dodgers takes advantage one of baseball’s most difficult promotional opportunities. English wins a free suit of clothes when he hits the famous “Abe Stark” clothing advertisement sign, with a line drive off Johnny Vander Meer, the sign was located just below the scoreboard at Ebbets…
On April 17, 1934, Casey Stengel makes his managerial debut as the Brooklyn Dodgers take on the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. Stengel, who will gain far more fame as the skipper of the New York Yankees, loses his first game, 8-7.
With rain pelting down at Ebbets Field, Hack Wilson pounds a 9th-inning pinch-grand slam, the first in Brooklyn Dodgers history, to beat Ad Liska and the Philadelphia Phillies, 8 – 6. The homer is inside-the-park, just the third pinch inside-the-park grand homer in major league history, and the first since 1910.
In the bottom of the 9th, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season off Burleigh Grimes, giving the Dodgers a 4 – 3 victory over the Cubs. Frederick’s six pinch-hit home runs doubles the previous record of three held by Ham Hyatt in 1913, Cy Williams in 1928, and Pat Crawford in 1929. With just nine pinch-hits altogether, his home run percentage is a major league record.
VINTAGE BASEBALL MEMORABILIA Vintage Baseball Memorabilia June 25, 1931 – At Ebbets Field‚ Dazzy Vance retires the first 18 St Louis Cardinal batters before George Watkins leads off the 6th with a bunt single. Jim Bottomley singles Watkins to 3rd and then when Vance tosses over to first‚ Watkins swipes home. Vance allows just 3…
The last major league bounced home run is hit by Dodger catcher Al Lopez at Ebbets Field as the NL joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929. The player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce will now be awarded a ground-rule double.
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