This Day In Baseball History: April 30, 1961

This Day In Baseball History: April 30, 1961

                It was on this date in 1961 that San Francisco Giants’ outfielder Willie Mays slugged four home runs in one game, with all four dingers travelling more than 400 feet. The game was played at County Stadium in Milwaukee against the Braves.

                The first home run was a solo shot that came in the first inning off Braves’ starting pitcher Lew Burdette to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. He then came to bat in the top of the third with Milwaukee ahead 3-2, and pounded his second homer of the game (again off Burdette but this time with a runner on base) to give San Fran a 4-3 lead.

                After flying out in the fifth, the Say Hey kid drilled a three-run shot off Braves’ reliever Seth Morehead and the Giants now led 11-3. Another two-run belt in the eighth (off Don McMahon) made the score 14-4, which is how the game ended. Mays’s opportunity to hit a fifth never happened as he was in the on-deck circle in the top of the ninth when the third out was recorded.

                For the game, Mays was 4 for 5, the four home runs and eight RBIs. Giants’ shortstop, Jose Pagan, also went deep twice, as did Milwaukee outfielder Hank Aaron. Two San Francisco players (Felipe Alou and Orlando Cepeda) hit one home run each for a game total of ten.

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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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