On June 27, 1934 The temperature reaches 115 degrees at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. Dizzy Dean leaves the game with two out and the score tied 7 – 7 in the top of the 9th. Reliever Jim Mooney retires Mel Ott, and when Bill DeLancey homers in the bottom of the inning to win the game, Dean is given credit for the win,…
National League President John Heydler’s designated hitter idea gets the backing of John McGraw, but the American League is against it.
1928 – National League President John Heydler becomes the first person to propose a baseball rule change calling for a 10th man, or a designated hitter, to bat in place of the pitcher. The NL will vote in favor of the proposal, but the American League will turn it down.
1927 – National League President John Heydler rules that Rogers Hornsby cannot continue to both hold stock in the St. Louis Cardinals and play for the New York Giants. Seemingly oblivious, the Cards’ board of directors, meeting in St. Louis, votes stockholders a 10% dividend, earning Hornsby $2916 for his 1167 shares.
1923 – Citing the unsavory characters associated with the sport, American League president Ban Johnson persuades AL owners to prohibit boxing matches in their parks. The National League declines to go along with it.
1923 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis allows former New York Giants pitcher Rube Benton to return to the National League. Benton had admitted prior knowledge of the 1919 World Series fix, but remained active, winning 22 games for St. Paul (American Association). NL President John Heydler disagrees with Landis, calling Benton undesirable, but does not stop the Cincinnati Reds from signing him. Benton, at age 35, will be 14-10 for the second-place Reds.
“Wanting to make a clean breast of things”, Lee Magee admits to National League president John Heydler and Chicago Cubs president William Veeck that he tried to “toss” a game with the Boston Braves when he was with the Cincinnati Reds in 1918, but that the Reds won the game in the 13th inning. Heydler will later testify on June 8th that Magee told him he became suspicious that Hal Chase had double-crossed him and so he stopped payment on the check.
National League chief John Heydler dismisses charges against Cincinnati Reds star Hal Chase
The National League elects their secretary, John Heydler, to be the president of the circuit. The former umpire had briefly served in the post after Harry Pulliam’s unexpected death in 1909.
1913 – John K. Tener, one-time pitcher and congressman, now governor of Pennsylvania, is elected National League president for four years. John Heydler is elected secretary.