Not again!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Remember yesterday's story about Lou Brock on June 17, 1962 being only the second Major League Baseball player* to hit a home run into the center field bleachers of New York's Polo Grounds? The bleachers were 460 feet from home plate. Well, it happened again the very next day – June 18, 1962!

Henry Aaron, a more likely slugger, put one into the bleachers in center with the bases loaded as the Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Mets 7-1.

What were the odds? Just three MLB players had hit balls into the center field bleachers since the ballpark was remodeled in 1923, two of them on consecutives days.

The Polo Grounds had some interesting quirks. While the center field fence was a great distance away, the left and right field lines were softball-esque distances. The distance down the left field line varied over the years, but was usually 270 or 280 feet away, never more than 300 feet away. The right field line was even shorter.

The upper deck in left hung over the lower deck, meaning a ball could be caught if it didn't fall into the upper deck on the way down for a home run.

New York's Giants, Yankees (before Yankee Stadium was built) and Mets (before Shea Stadium was built) called the Polo Grounds home, as did the NFL's Giants and AFL's Titans (today's New York Jets).

*Luke Easter did it in a Negro League game in 1948

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
New York Times, June 19, 1962
New York Polo Grounds
June 18, 1962 box score/play-by-play

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Who woulda thunk it?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - The centerfield bleachers in the old Polo Grounds, home to the Giants, Yankees and Mets at various times, were 460 feet from home plate. Quite a poke. Since the ballpark was remodeled in 1923, and until this date in 1962, only one Major League Baseball player hit a home run into those bleachers – Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves (today's Atlanta Braves). At 6'4" Adcock looked the part of a slugger.

On June 17, 1962 a second ballplayer hit a ball into the center field bleachers of the Polo Grounds, but you'd be surprised who. It was Lou Brock of the Chicago Cubs, a man known more for his base stealing than slugging. Brock's blast helped the Cubs beat the New York Mets 8-7. The Mets called the Polo Grounds home while waiting for Shea Stadium to be built.

Brock wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the slow trot around the bases. He would finish his career with 149 home runs and over 900 runs driven in.

Brock was traded to St. Louis two years later where he'd spend the rest of his hall of fame career as a Cardinal.

*Luke Easter did it in a Negro League game in 1948.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1962, by Richard Dozer
New York Times, June 18, 1962
The Polo Grounds

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Yankees revisit a peaceful RFK

WASHIGTON, D.C. - The New York Yankees returned to RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on this date in 2006. They beat the Washington Nationals 7-5 in inter-league play. The last time the Bronx Bombers played a game that mattered at RFK was September 30, 1971 - the last game played by the old, though not the oldest, Washington Senators. The Yankees won that game too, but by a 9-0 forfeit when fans stormed the field in the bottom of the 9th and wouldn't leave. The fans were upset with the Senators leaving the nation's capital for the second time in ten years.

Here's where you need a scorecard to keep track; the original Senators left Washington, D.C. the first time in 1961 and became the Minnesota Twins. But the deal that allowed owner Calvin Griffith to leave Washington for the Twin Cities brought a new franchise to D.C. in 1961 also called the Senators.

The new Senators played at old Griffith Stadium, still owned by the Griffiths' family, until "District of Columbia Stadium" was ready in 1962. D.C. Stadium became known as RFK Stadium after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

The new Senators' attendance, I'm talking about the baseball team now, reflected their play - dismal. This latest Senators franchise moved again in 1971, this time to the Dallas area where they became, and remain, the Texas Rangers.

To pour salt on the wounds of fans in Washington, D.C., the Minnesota Twins (the original Senators) made it to the World Series four years after leaving the nation's capital (1965). They won the World Series in 1987 and 1991.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Washington Senators
June 16, 2006 box score/play-by-play

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One that got away

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Older Chicago Cubs fans may recall this infamous date in 1964. It's the day the team let a youngster named Lou Brock go in a six-player deal with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. The marquee name the Cubs got was right-handed starter Ernie Broglio. Brock played 16 more seasons for the Cardinals and ended up in the Hall of Fame. Broglio was out of baseball in less than three years after the trade.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Brock was a speedy, 24-year old outfielder who was hitting .251 at the time of the trade and struck out a lot. At the same time, he showed promise as a base stealer and had some pop in his bat.

Some described Broglio at the time as an "aging" hurler. In fact he was 29, and was no slouch. He won 21 games for the Cardinals in 1960 and 18 in '63. Unfortunately, he won only 7 games for the Cubs over the next two and a half years and was out of baseball by 1967.

Brock paid off for the Cardinals right away. He hit .348 and stole 33 bases the remainder of the '64 season, helping St. Louis win the World Series.

Also part of the trade were pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth who were sent to the Cardinals along with Brock for Broglio, pitcher Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Lou Brock stats-MLB.com
Lou Brock stats-Baseball Almanac

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The real Roy Hobbs

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus was shot by a deranged fan on this date in 1949. The event became the inspiration for The Natural, first a novel, then a movie. The book was written by Bernard Malamud in 1952.

The movie came out in 1984 starring Robert Redford. The character in the book and movie, Roy Hobbs, was out of baseball for a while after being shot, but eventually made a dramatic comeback. Eddie Waitkus didn't make quite as dramatic a comeback, but was back in the Phillies lineup in 1950, and went on to play six more years in the majors.

Waitkus started out his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1941, but World War II interrupted and he ended up in the Philippines. He didn't return to the Cubs until 1946. It was during this time that a young Chicago secretary named Ruth Ann Steinhagen became obsessed with Waitkus. The Cubs first baseman was oblivious to the attraction.

Waitkus was traded to the Phillies before the 1949 season. The Phillies played one game in Chicago in May, but a three-game series in June brought Waitkus closer to Steinhagen for an extended period for the first time since he left the Cubs. She got a room at the upscale Edgewater Beach Hotel where the Phillies were staying. She lured him to her room by using the name of a former high school friend of his. When he arrived Steinhagen shot him in the chest. He was close to death several times before the bullet was successfully removed.

Ruth Ann Steinhagen was never put on trial for the shooting, instead she was committed to a mental institution.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
More on Eddie Waitkus
The Natural by Bernard Malamud, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1952