This Day In Baseball History: May 19, 1976

This Day In Baseball History: May 19, 1976

                It was on this date in 1976 that Boston Red Sox first baseman Carl Yastrzemski played in his 2293 game, passing Red Sox legend and Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams for the most games played in the history of the franchise. During the game, Yaz collected four hits in four at-bats, scored four runs and had four RBIs in Boston’s 9-2 win against the Detroit Tigers in Tiger Stadium. Three of his hits were home runs.

                Yastrzemski would go on to play in 3308 career games (all with Boston) and finished with 3419 hits, a .285 batting average, 452 home runs, 646 doubles, 1844 RBIs and 168 stolen bases. He was an 18-time All-Star, won seven Gold Gloves as an outfielder, and won the American League’s MVP Award in 1967. He played in two World Series during Boston’s 86-year championship drought, and played well in  both, despite the Red Sox falling short of winning. In 1967 against the St. Louis Cardinals, he batted .400 with ten hits, three homers and five RBIs. In the 1975 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, he batted .310 with nine hits and four RBIs.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1989.

                

The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #1: Kansas City Monarchs

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#1: Kansas City Monarchs

 

League Affiliation: Negro National League

Negro American League

Established: 1920

Folded: 1965

Based in: Kansas City, Missouri

 

1942 Kansas City Monarchs
Buck O'Neil is the sixth from the left.

                Formed in 1920 as one of the founding members of the first Negro National League, the Kansas City Monarchs had the longest tenure of any Negro League team. They were also the most decorated with a combined 13 titles between the NNL and the Negro American League.

                The first three years of the NNL were dominated by the Chicago American Giants, but the Monarchs became the team to beat starting in 1923. They won three consecutive NNL titles and added a fourth in 1929 before the first NNL folded after the 1931 season.

                Following the demise of the league, the Monarchs became an independent team, barnstorming over the United States for five seasons before finding a new home in the NAL beginning in 1937. They picked up right where they left off in the NNL by winning the title their first season in the league. They won again in 1938, 1939 and 1940, making it four championships in a row.

                The Monarchs continued to play in the NAL until 1960 winning four more titles (1946, 1950, 1953 and 1955) but when the Negro Leagues ceased to exist after the 1960 season, they became a barnstorming team once again.

                The team finally disbanded after the 1965 baseball season.

                Notable players for the Kansas City Monarch included Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, and of course Buck O’Neil. If you’ve never heard of Buck O’Neil, you need to do yourself a favour and read his biography, “I Was Right On Time” or take the time to watch Ken Burns’ documentary “Baseball.” O’Neil is interviewed frequently for the nine-part series and is without a doubt the best baseball story-teller of all time.

The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #2: Homestead Grays

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#2: Homestead Grays 

League Affiliation: Negro National League

Established: 1900

Folded: 1951

Based in: Pittsburgh, PA

 

1939 Homestead Grays

                The Homestead Grays were formed in Pittsburgh at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were first known as the Germantown Blue Ribbons and played mostly sandlot baseball for the first ten years of their existence. In 1911, they changed their name to the Murdock Grays, and changed that to the Homestead Grays in 1912.

                They remained an independent team until 1929 when they joined the American Negro League in 1929 but only played one season before becoming independent again. They became members of the East-West League for one year in 1932, then joined the second Negro National League in 1935 where they would remain until the league folded in 1948.

                They would win nine consecutive NNL Pennants from 1937 until 1945. They would win again in 1948 to make it a total of ten and were also victorious in the Negro World Series in 1943, 1944 and 1948, by beating the winners of the Negro American League.

                After the NNL folded after the 1948 season, the Grays once again became an independent team but struggled to find financial success and disbanded in May of 1951.

                Notable players included “Cool Papa” Bell, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Buck Leonard and “Smokey” Joe Williams.