2019 starts in a few hours, so to welcome the new year, here’s an installment of baseball in year 9s. From Roger Connor to Hideki Matsui, baseball has taken a wild ride in year 9s.
1889: Managed by Jim Mutrie, first baseman Roger Connor and the New York Giants topped the National League, a game ahead of the Boston Beaneaters, winning the league championship with an 83-43 record. They shared their city with the American Association Champs, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, led by outfielder Oyster Burns and managed by Bill McGunnigle, who topped their faction of baseball with a staggering 93-44 record. They played each other in a primitive form of the World Series, the Giants winning six games to three. 1899: Finishing eight games above the second-place Beaneaters, another Brooklyn team took home a league title in this ‘99: the Brooklyn Superbas led the National League with a record of 101-47. In May of that season (May 15, 1899), Brooklyn’s Wee Willie Keeler hit an inside-the-park grand slam to win a game over the rival third-place Philadelphia Phillies. 1909: The classic seven-game World Series between the gentleman Honus Wagner’s Pittsburgh Pirates and the dastardly Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers took place in this year. Despite losing the series, Cobb made history that year for compiling baseball first Hitter’s Triple Crown since Nap Lajoie of the 1901 Philadelphia Athletics. On July 19, Neal Ball of the Cleveland Naps turned the first unassisted triple play in the history of Major League Baseball. 1919: Scandal struck the 1919 season when after the Cincinnati Reds took home their first World Series trophy in a five to three series win over the Chicago White Sox, it was revealed that the powerful representatives of the American League, now nicknamed the “Black Sox,” had purposefully lost the series to the seemingly inferior National League team. Gangster Arnold Rothstein had bribed players into throwing the series to receive more money than they would have received for winning the series in the first place. Eight players from that Black Sox’ team were banned from baseball for life, the most notable suspension being handed to, as anyone who’s ever seen the 1989 classic baseball movie starring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and James Earl Jones, “Field of Dreams” can tell you, Shoeless Joe Jackson. During this year, Rube Foster began plans to form the Negro Leagues. 1929: Despite being named the MLB’s Most Valuable Player, second baseman Rogers Hornsby could not bring his Chicago Cubs to win the World Series Championship they would chase so fervently until the early morning of the November 3, 2016. Instead, the Cubs lost the series in five games to Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, and Lefty Grove’s Philadelphia Athletics, managed by the genius, Connie Mack. This was the final time in the World Series era (1906 and 1922 preceding it) that Boston held last place in both the American and National Leagues, the Red Sox at the bottom of the AL at 58-96, and the Braves at the bottom of the NL at 56-98. In the Negro Leagues, at a staggering 66-14 record, the Kansas City Monarchs won their fourth of 12 Negro National League titles. 1939: In this year, the Reds’ Bucky Walters (the National League Most Valuable Player) became the first National League pitcher since the Brooklyn Robins’ Dazzy Vance in 1924 to win the Pitcher’s Triple Crown. His Reds lost the World Series in four games to the American League MVP, Joe DiMaggio, and the New York Yankees. The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (incidentally, where I’m writing this edition of this annual article from) inducted its second class, including Cap Anson, Eddie Collins, Charles Comiskey, Candy Cummings, Buck Ewing, Lou Gehrig, Willie Keeler, Charles Radbourn, George Sisler, and Al Spalding. The American League won the MLB All-Star Game 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, the West won the first Negro League All-Star Game 4-2 at Comiskey Park, and the East won the second Negro League All-Star Game 10-2 in New York City. The Monarchs won their sixth Negro National League Pennant and the Baltimore Elite Giants won their first of two Negro American League titles. 1949: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox in the AL and Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the NL won their respective MVP Awards. Robinson lost the World Series to the crosstown rival New York Yankees four games to one in an unexciting World Series exhibition. The Rockford Peaches won their second of three consecutive and third of four total championships to win the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, defeating the Grand Rapids Chicks three games to one. The American League won the MLB All-Star Game at Ebbets Field 11-7 and the East won the Negro League All-Star Game 4-0 in Chicago. The Baltimore Elite Giants won their second and final Negro American League title. On June 15, future MLB manager Dusty Baker was born. On July 21, future terrifying closer Al Hrabosky, and a week later future Oakland Ace Vida Blue were born. On September 27, considered maybe the greatest third baseman of all-time, Mike Schmidt was born. 1959: Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers won their first World Series as the Los Angeles Dodgers, beating the AL MVP Nellie Fox and the Chicago White Sox four games to two. The Chicago Cubs’ Ernie Banks won the NL MVP. While Bob Allison of the Washington Senators took home the Rookie of the Year Award, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Willie McCovey won the award for the San Francisco Giants. On April 22 of this year, future two-time World Series Champion manager Terry Francona was born. On October 21, future Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer George Bell was born. 1969: A wild year for the entire world, this year involved Woodstock, Neil Armstrong set his foot on the moon, and, possibly the most unlikely of all, the New York Mets won the World Series. Only seven years old, the franchise with Tom Seaver and a young Nolan Ryan secured its first Championship with a “Miracle Mets” victory in five games over the Baltimore Orioles. Willie McCovey, the Rookie of the Year ten years prior, was the MVP of the All-Star Game at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, which the NL won 9-3. McCovey also won the NL MVP and Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins won it in the AL. Early in the decade, San Francisco Giants’ pitcher and teammate of McCovey, Gaylord Perry, conjectured that men would never walk on the moon. Being a terrible hitter, he said, “They will put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20 of this season, just minutes after Armstrong stamped his foot and the American flag on the lunar surface, Perry knocked a solo blast over the fence in the Giants’ 7-3 win over Los Angeles Dodgers in San Fran at Candlestick Park. 1979: Led by the co-NL MVP Willie Stargell (the other was the St. Louis Cardinals’ Keith Hernandez) the Pittsburgh Pirates won the Fall Classic in seven games over Ken Singleton of the Baltimore Orioles. Stargell also won the World Series MVP Award. The AL MVP was Don Baylor of the California Angels. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Dave Parker won the All-Star Game MVP in the NL’s 7-6 victory at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. 1989: This would be the second of three consecutive American League Championships for the Oakland Athletics, but this would be the only one of these times that they won the World Series, beating the San Francisco Giants in a series sweep. The Series was interrupted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake which collapsed part of the Bay Bridge. This occurred just minutes before Game Three was scheduled to start. The natural disaster temporarily knocked out the television feed and prompted both teams to venture onto the field for safety and the umpires and Major League Baseball decided to postpone the game until ten days later on October 27. A’s pitcher Dave Stewart won the Series MVP. The MVPs were Kevin Mitchell of the Giants in the NL and Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL. The Kansas City Royals’ Bo Jackson was the MVP of the All-Star Game at Anaheim Stadium, which the AL won 5-3. Jackson and Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs off of the Giants’ Rick Reuschel. 1999: The New York Yankees, led by their young stars Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and veteran Roger Clemens, won the World Series in four games over the Atlanta Braves (with their young, new third baseman future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones). The Braves had just won their eighth of 14 consecutive division titles. Jones was the NL MVP and Iván “Pudge” Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers was the AL MVP. The AL won the All-Star Game 4-1 at Fenway Park. Boston Red Sox’ ace Pedro Martinez was the MVP after a historic start, striking out five of the six batters he faced, striking out the first four: Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, and finishing on Jeff Bagwell. Two of those five, Larkin and Bagwell, would make it into Cooperstown, and the two of the other three would probably be alongside them if their steroid use had never come out (Walker is still on the Hall of Fame ballot). 2009: World Series MVP Hideki Matsui (and Jeter, Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, and Rivera) led his New York Yankees to a four games to two World Series victory over Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Minnesota Twins’ catcher Joe Mauer won the AL MVP Award and the St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols won the NL MVP Award. Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics won the AL Rookie of the Year and Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins won the NL Rookie of the Year. The Boston Red Sox’ right-handed starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka led Team Japan to their second World Baseball Classic Championship defeating South Korea 5-3 in ten innings at Dodger Stadium in the Final. 2019: Right around the corner, tomorrow, January 1, 2019, will start a story just as great as the previous 13 decades mentioned in this article. Already looking exciting, 2019 will feature Bryce Harper apart from his Washington Nationals, possibly, and now joining any one of many exciting teams, Paul Goldschmidt with the St. Louis Cardinals instead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Manny Machado playing for, at this point, anyone, Yasiel Puig leading a brand new Cincinnati Reds roster, and Mookie Betts taking his reigning World Champion Boston Red Sox for another spin. Jesse A. Cook “Baseball In Year 9s: Welcoming 2019” December 31, 2018
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Becoming the first man in team history to accomplish the amazing feat, the Cincinnati Reds’ second baseman, Scooter Gennett, had a four-home run game last night at home in the 13-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals! He came merely one runner shy of becoming the first player in baseball history to hit for the home run cycle! That would be a solo shot, a two-run blast, a three-run dinger, and a grand slam all in one game.
Scooter led off his day with an RBI single in the bottom of the first which broke the 0-0 tie. Scoring on the play was Billy Hamilton from third. Hamilton, by the way, scored on May 24 to go ahead against the Cleveland Indians in the top of the ninth inning with two outs from first on a Zack Cozart single… I’ll just let that sink in… Now, as great as the speed demon, Hamilton, is, we must return to the topic of the fantastic history the scrawny middle infielder of Cincinnati made last night against the rival Cardinals: the young Gennett, born and raised in Cincinnati, might I add, stepped up again in the bottom of the third against the same pitcher, Adam Wainwright. Around the bases stood Reds’ teammates, Zack Cozart, Joey Votto, and Eugenio Suarez. With one out, Gennett looked to make a large contribution to his team’s 1-0 lead. With the full count, Wainwright dealt suicide to his Cards: Gennett hit a shot over the right field wall for a grand slam. 5-0 Reds was the score, and Gennett had the first of his ten total RBIs. It was now the fourth inning and Gennett had a tough act to follow: not merely repeating his homer of the previous inning, but following Eugenio Suarez’s base loaded-bases clearing triple. Gennett looked in at the new pitcher, John Gant; Gant put Scooter on another full count, but delivered the pitch that would put this game at a double digit lead for Cincy. Gennett swung hard and drove a line drive over the center field wall, which was a long way away; 404 feet. That turned from a 404 foot hit to a 404 error: baseball not found. Gennett, now coasting at 8 RBIs looked forward to the rest of the historic evening. Gant, nervous to face the red-hot Reds’ second baseman, put on his game face to attempt to keep Scooter off of the bases. Gennett stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning with nobody on base and one out with an eager expression. Fittingly standing with a three and one count, otherwise known as a “hitter’s count,” Gennett moved Gant to a gaunt mood with the ensuing 3-1 solo drive to opposite, left field. After Stephen Piscotty finally put his team on the board, hitting a solo homer to left against starter Tim Adleman, John Brebbia took the hill to try to be the man to shut down Gennett and keep him from the history books. Disregarding the fact that the lone Scott Schebler on base would definitely keep him from hitting for the fabled home run cycle, Scooter went up to the plate merely looking for a base hit. Having only hit three bombs all season before the three last night, Gennett had had enough excitement for one night… Or had he? With a count of zero balls and two strikes, Brebbia looked to be leading the young batter away from history. With two away, Brebbia dealt the pitch: “Gennett hits a drive to right! Did he do it? He has!” Scooter hit a line drive over the Great American Ballpark right field wall to complete his four home run night, only becoming the 17th player in baseball history to achieve such a feat. Before last night, the last man to hit four home runs in one game was Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers on May 8, 2012. Now Scooter has joined the names of Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays, and Lou Gehrig. Scooter Gennett made history last night and the Cincinnati Reds have a great shot at the playoffs if players like him can continue to play great. Jesse A. Cook “Scooter Knocks Out 4!” June 7, 2017 |
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