This Day In Baseball History: April 29, 1960

This Day In Baseball History: April 29, 1960

                It was on this date in 1960, that first baseman Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals, became the first player in Major League Baseball history to start 1000 games at two different positions. Previously in his career, he had started over 1500 games as an outfielder.

                The game was played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis against the Cardinals’ bitter rivals, the Chicago Cubs. A ten-run eighth inning provided all the runs St. Louis needed as they defeated the Cubs by a score of 16-6. Musial had four plate appearances, had one hit, walked once and scored a run. He also made six putouts and had one assist at first base.

                During his 22-year MLB career (all with the Cards), he would finish with 1890 games played in the outfield, 1016 at first base and he even got into a game one time as a pitcher. But it was at the plate were Musial established himself as a Hall-of-Famer. He had a career .331 batting average, 3530 hits (fourth on the all-time list), 475 home runs and 1951 RBIs. He won three MVP Awards (1943, 1946 and 1948).

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The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #12: Indianapolis ABCs

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#12: Indianapolis ABCs

League Affiliation: Negro National League

Established: 1913

Folded: 1926

Based in: Indianapolis, IN

 

1921 Indianapolis ABCs

                While the ABCs spent their first seven years as an independent club, they were one of the charter members of the first Negro National League that was founded in 1920. As an independent, they claimed the Western Championship of Black Baseball in 1915 and 1916.

                They got their name from the American Brewing Company and by the middle of the 1910s, they were challenging Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants for Black Baseball supremacy.

                After disbanding during the 1919 season, owner C.I. Taylor re-organized the team and entered them into the Negro National League in 1920 and the team finished with a 39-35 record and managed fourth place. In 1921, they took a step back and fell to fifth place with a 35-38 finish.

                During the offseason, Taylor died and his wife, Olivia, took control of the club. Ben Taylor became the manager and the ABCs finished in second place (46-33) in 1922. But after a fourth place finish in 1923 (44-31) but started to decline shortly after.

                During the 1924 season, they started with a 4-17 record and were dropped from the league before the year was half over.

                Under new ownership, they didn’t fare much better in 1925 (17-57) but did but forth a noble showing in 1926 (43-45). However, the demise of the franchise was complete as the team folded after 1926. Several attempts to re-incarnate the ABCs failed. 

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The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #13: Brooklyn Royal Giants

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#13: Brooklyn Royal Giants

League Affiliation: National Association

Eastern Colored League

Established: 1905

Folded: 1942

Based in: Brooklyn, New York

 

1917 Brooklyn Royal Giants

                The Brooklyn Royal Giants were originally established as an independent, barnstorming team, and even though they played in various leagues, they maintained that independent status throughout most of their existence. They were formed in 1905 by John Conner, the owner of the Brooklyn Royal Café in the New York borough. During the first two seasons, they played mostly against semi-professional white teams.

                They joined the National Association of Colored Clubs of the United States and Cuba (National Association for short) and played the three years that the National Association was around (the league  folded after the 1909 season).

                They became an independent team again until 1923 when they joined the Eastern Colored League (ECL). However, the club was now owned by a booking agent, Nat Strong, and they did very poorly in the six seasons they were a member of the league. They finished third in 1923 with an 18-18 season, but never managed to win more than they lost. In fact, the final year of the ECL (1928), they only played nine games.

                In 1929, they became independent once again and attempted to rebuild the roster, but the quality of play never reached the status they had achieved before joining the ECL. By the early 1940s, they were reduced to semi-pro status and the team folded during the 1942 season.

                Some notable players on the Royal Giants were Smokey Joe Williams, “Cannonball” Redding and “Pop” Lloyd.

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