How The Game Has Changed

On April 5, 2012 the Blue Jays and Indians played the longest Opening Day game in Major League history, a 16 inning contest. This game broke the record held by the 1926 Opener between the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators, and the Cleveland and Detroit game in 1960.

On April 2^nd the Dodgers and Diamondbacks played a 15-inning game in 5 hours and 46 minutes and used a total of 17 pitchers. The 1926 game between the A’s and Senators took 2:33; both pitchers pitched the entire game.

Spring Training Attendance

This year I hope to blog about the 1952 baseball season, with emphasis on the New York teams of Willie, Mickey, and the Duke, as well as some reports on the old Pacific Coast League. The PCL was an Open classification in 1952, not quite a major league but above AAA.

It also meant that if a player was called up to the big leagues from the PCL, he didn't have to go, and many players didn't. For one thing, they liked the weather on the west coast. Also, many players made more money playing in the Coast League than they would make in the big leagues.

Anyway, the Angels, that is the current Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, not to be confused with the Los Angeles Angels of the old PCL, have been playing in front of Spring Training crowds in the neighborhood of 10,000 spectators per game. In 1952, the St. Louis Browns, having one of their best ever attendance years, avearged fewer than 6700 fans per game, in the regular season.! No wonder they moved to Baltimore after just one more season. Only 9 of the 16 Major League teams averaged more than 10,000 per game in 1952.

The PCL played a 180 game schedule in 1952.

April Standings Entering May - Dodgers/Giants at Ebbets Field

Entering May, the Pacific Coast League had already completed more than 30 games, while the Major Leagues had played only a maximum of with Detroit having completed 8 games due to rainouts etc.


The PCL standings through April 30 were:
Portland      21 12
Oakland      17 15
Sacramento 18 16
LA              17 16
Seattle         17 16
Hollywood   14 17
San Diego    14 17
San Francisco 12 31

Hollywood will be hosting Oakland for a series this week, while the Angels will be travelling to San Francisco for a series with the Seals.

Meanwhile, in the Big Leagues the standings are as follows:

National League
Boston      10   5
St. Louis     6   3
Brooklyn     8  5
Philadelphia 7  6
Chicago      5   5
Pittsburgh   5   5
Cincinnati   4   7
New York 3 12

American League
Cleveland    7   3
Washington 7   3
New York  8   4
Boston        7   4
Chicago      6   4
Detroit        3   5
St. Louis     4   8
Philadelphia 1 12

On April 30, 1951 the only game scheduled was at Ebbets Field. The Giants beat the Dodgers 8-5 in front of 33,962 fans. The game took 3 hours and 10 minutes to play. The Dodgers used a total of 6 pitchers and needed 3 pitchers just to get out of the first inning, the Giants scoring 6 runs in the first and 2 more in the second.

The reason that there was only one game on April 30th is that it was a Monday. The Dodgers and Giants were completing a 3 game series that ran Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

To give you an idea of the importance of the Dodger-Giant rivalry in New York in the 1950s, the Dodgers averaged 28,000 for the 3 game series against the Giants at Ebbets Field in April. For the rest of their home games in April they averaged about 17,000. The Giants averaged about 12,000 for their home games in April at the Polo Grounds against the Braves, but 32,000 for the Dodgers. The capacity of the Polo Grounds was about 55,000 and Ebbets Field about 32,000.

Games of April 17, 1951 - Opening Day

Yankee Stadium, New York vs. Boston


NY 5 Bos 0 Attendance 44,860 Capacity 67,000 Time: 2:12

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9    R H E
Red Sox 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0     0 6 1
Yankees 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 X    5 7 0



The Red Sox were managed by Steve O’Neill (who I never heard of before this blog) a minor league catcher who managed for parts of 14 big league seasons for the Indians, Tigers, Red Sox, and Phillies. He managed Tigers to the World Series title in 1945. The Red Sox finished in 3rd place in 1950.

The Yankees were managed by Casey Stengel. They were in the middle of a run of 5 consecutive World Series titles which began in 1949. Stengel managed in the big leagues for parts of 25 seasons from 1934 to 1965, managing the Braves, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets. He is, of course, remembered for his “Stengelese”, silly and funny ramblings about anything and everything. Among his quotable quotes was upon his dismissal as the Yankees manager upon reaching his 70th birthday, “I’ll never make the mistake of turning 70 again.”

Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 with a seating capacity of 58,000, almost identical to the capacity after its extensive remodel in the 1970s. By 1927, the capacity had increased to 82,000. In 1951, the stadium held about 67,000, so opening day was far from a sellout.

The dimensions of the playing field changed over the years as well. The dimensions in 1951 with 1923 dimensions in parentheses:
Left field foul pole: 301 (280)
Left center: 402-415 (395-415)
Deepest left center: 457 (500)
Center: 461 (487)
Deepest right center: 407 (429)
Short right center (the “short right field porch”): 367 (350)
Right field foul pole: 296 (295)

1923 Grandstand Admission $1.10 Opening Day in 1923 John Philip Sousa’s band played the Star Spangled Banner

Public Address Announcer Bob Sheppard made his Yankee debut Opening Day 1951. The first player that he introduced was DiMaggio – Dom DiMaggio of the visiting Red Sox who was the leadoff hitter that day.

Mickey Mantle was also making his Major League debut, in right field, as Joe DiMaggio was playing center field.

Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, Dodgers vs. Phillies

Phil 5 Bro 2 Attendance 19,217 Capacity 32,000 Time: 2:07

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R H E
Phillies    2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0    5 9 0
Dodgers 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0    2 9 2

Winning pitcher Robin Roberts 1-0. Complete game. 2 runs, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks.
Losing Pitcher: Carl Erskine 0-1. 7 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned, 1 strikeout, 1 walk.

Jackie Robinson hit a homerun.
Robin Roberts threw 128 pitches.

Braves Field, Boston, Braves vs. NY Giants

            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9    R H E
Giants  0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0    4 9 2
Braves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0 5 1

Attendance: 6,081 Capacity 40,000 Time: 2:26

Winning Pitcher – Larry Jansen (1-0) a 5-hit complete game shutout, 4K, 1BB
Losing Pitcher – Vern Bickford (0-1) 7 IP, 8 hits, 4ER, 3K, 5BB

Note the absence of Willie Mays in the Giants lineup. He will not make his debut until May 25th.

Other Games:            WP                 LP
CLE @DET 2-1    B. Lemon       H. Newhouser

BOS @NYY 0-5  V. Raschi        B. Wight

WSH @PHA 6-1  C. Marrero     B. Shantz

CHW @SLB 17-3 B. Pierce       N. Garver

NL

PHI @BRO 5-2     R. Roberts     C. Erskine

NYG @BSN 4-0    L. Jansen      V. Bickford

CIN @CHC 3-8     F. Hiller        K. Raffensbe

STL @PIT 4-5       M. Dickson    T. Poholsky

April 16, 1951 – Opening Day, Crosley Field, Cincinnati

Opening Day in 1951 was the traditional Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The Cincinnati Reds had the honor of opening the baseball season because of their status as the first professional baseball team, all the way back in 1869. Opening Day became a holiday of sorts in Cincy, eventually a school holiday as well.

And so on, April 16th, the Reds opened the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field. The temperature at game time was a bracing 40 degrees and there were some snow flurries. Still, a crowd of 30,441 was on hand to take in the game.

If the attendance doesn’t sound like much of a crowd for Opening Day by 2011 standards, consider this: the seating capacity of Crosley Field in 1951 was about 30,000.

Crosley Field
While Crosley field wasn’t built until 1912, the site of Crosley was the site of the Reds home field from 1884 until 1970 when the Reds moved into Riverfront Stadium. The Reds played at Crosley Field from 1912 until 1970.

If you look closely, you will notice a slight incline around the outfield, near the fence. This is especially prominent in left field where the incline was about 15 degrees. This slope was called "The Terrace" and was used by standing room only crowds in the early days when spectators were allowed on the field behind ropes for big games like Opening Day or the World Series. Also notice that the the outfield side of the infield dirt cutout is pretty squared off compared to the uniform rounded arc of the modern infield.

For those who decry the commercialism about naming rights for major league stadiums, Crosley Field was named after Reds owner Powel Crosley, who made his fortune manufacturing radios, appliances, and even automobiles. The Crosley Corporation is still in existence today, manufacturing retro record/CD players and other appliances.

Crosley Auto

Dimensions of Crosley in 1951:
     Left field line: 328 (down from 360 when it opened in 1912)
     Right field line: 366 (down from 360)
     Center: 380
     Right Center: 383
     Center field: 390 (420 in 1912)
     Home plate to backstop: 66 feet (up from 38 feet when the park opened)

The Game
Oh, yes, the Opening Day Game. The Pirates won the game 4-3. The starting lineups:

Are any of those names familiar to you?

            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9    R H E
Pirates  0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0   4 12 2
Reds    0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0    3  9 2

The winning pitcher was Lefty Chambers (1-0) who pitched 6.2 innings and gave up 3 runs, all earned, 8 hits, struck out 1 and walked 2. Bill Werle pitched the final 2.1 innings, giving up 1 hit, striking out 2 and walking 1.

The losing pitcher was Ewell Blackwell (0-1) who gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings, striking out 3 and walking 1.

Despite the fact that the Reds used 4 pitchers, 3 pinch hitters, and a pinch runner, and the Pirates used 2 pitchers, the time of the game was 2 hours 18 minutes, very quick by today’s standards. It also struck me that all of the Reds pitching changes came between innings following pinch hitters for the pitcher; no situational relief pitchers (each of the 3 relievers pitched 2 innings).

One final game note: only 3 umpires were used in the game. The use of 4 umpires wasn’t implemented until 1952, although 4 umpire crews were used in the World Series as far back as 1909.

Did you know – that during the 1950s the Reds changed their name to the “Redlegs” for a few years because of the fear of Communism during the Cold War? The communists were referred to as “Reds” and the Cincinnati ballclub wanted no part of that.

The PCL in 1951

Opening Day for the1951 season is only 2 days away. There will be only one game on April 16th: the Cincinnati Reds will host the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field for the traditional opener. The rest of the Major League teams will open on April 17th, more than two weeks later than the opening of the 2011 season.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, the Pacific Coast League (PCL) season was already under way. So here is a brief introduction to the 1951 Pacific Coast League.

In 1951, the Pacific Coast League was a AAA league, the highest minor league classification at the time. However, baseball had become big time on the west coast, and the PCL was petitioning Organized Ball to achieve Major League status. The league was never a Major League, but in 1952 they were declared an “Open League” putting them above the other AAA leagues. They maintained that classification through the 1957 season when it was announced that the Brooklyn and New York National League franchises would be moving west to become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants respectively.

The eight teams that comprised the PCL in 1951 were the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, Portland Beavers, Sacramento Solons, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Rainiers. They were all truly Pacific Coast Teams.

You probably recognize that six of those eight cities now have Major League teams. The 2011 version of the Pacific Coast League has 16 teams from Sacramento and Tacoma to Iowa and New Orleans. There are still vestiges of the 1951 PCL with a team in Sacramento, the Tacoma Rainiers, and the Tucson Padres. The Portland Beavers were replaced this year by the Omaha Storm Chasers.

Three of the ballparks that were used in the 1951 PCL season eventually became Major League ballparks, if only briefly:

The Los Angeles Angels of the PCL played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, which became the home of the 1961 Los Angeles Angels of the American League (the next year they were tenants at Dodger Stadium and played there until Anaheim Stadium was ready for action in 1966);

For two seasons, in 1958 and 1959, the Giants played in San Francisco’s Seals Stadium, longtime home of the San Francisco Seals;

The third old PCL ballpark to be used as a Major League field was Seattle’s Sick’s Stadium (try to say that without spraying) home of the Rainiers. No, it wasn’t the original home of the Seattle Mariners. It was the home of the 1969 Seattle Pilots of the American league, an expansion team that was bankrupt by the end of the season, sold to a group headed by current baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers.

The other ballparks in the 1951 PCL included:

Gilmore Field, home of the Hollywood Stars and now the site of CBS Television Studios

Oaks Ball Park, home of the Oakland Oaks. Oaks Ball Park was demolished in 1955 to make room for a Pepsi bottling plant which was later torn down to build Pixar Animation Studios.

Lucky Beavers Stadium, home of the Portland Beavers.

Edmonds Field, home of the Sacramento Solons

Lane Field, home of the San Diego Padres and the field where Ted Williams first played professional baseball.

There were a number of big time baseball names among the managers of the PCL teams in 1951:

Hollywood – Fred Haney, who managed the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series victory over the Yankees in 1957;

Seattle – Rogers Hornsby, a Hall of Famer whose lifetime batting average of .358 is second only to Ty Cobb;

Oakland - Mel Ott, a Hall of Fame player with 511 career homeruns;

San Francisco – Lefty O’Doul a San Francisco native who began his career as a pitcher, but a sore arm turned him into an outfielder. In 1929 he hit .398 with 254 hits (still tied for the all-time National League record), 32 homeruns, 122 rbi, and 152 runs.

There will be more about the Coast League teams, their managers and ballparks as the season progresses and the Stars and Angels host, and visit, the other cities of the 1951 Pacific Coast League.

The Ballparks

April 9th is an appropriate date to start talking about the ballparks that were used by Major League teams in 1951. I use the term “ballpark” as opposed to “Stadium” because, with few exceptions, the fields of 1951 were much more like ballparks than stadiums (or should that be stadia? OK, stadiums).

The reason that April 9th is so appropriate is that it is an important anniversary for two of the ballparks in use in 1951. On April 9, 1912, Fenway Park hosted it’s first ever baseball game, in a snowstorm, an exhibition between the Red Sox and Harvard University. The Red Sox won the game.

On April 9, 1913, the first National League game was played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn between the Dodgers and the Phillies. The Phillies won 1-0. It was a big day for the Borough of Brooklyn, opening a new ballpark, considered by all to be a grand place for the great National Pastime. Can you guess the attendance for the grand opening? A grand total 12,000 Brooklyn faithful showed up in cold weather to see the christening of this fabled ballpark. How the game has changed!

The Consider this: the Brooklyn Dodgers played in Ebbets Field from 1913 through the 1957 season, a total of 44 years. The Los Angeles Dodgers moved into Dodger Stadium for the 1962 season and have played for 49 years in Dodger Stadium.

Here is the list of Major League the 1951 Major League ballparks:
Yankee Stadium – New York Yankees
Ebbets Field – Brooklyn Dodgers
The Polo Grounds – New York Giants
Fenway Park – Boston Red Sox
Braves Field – Boston Braves
Shibe Park – Philadelphia Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies
Forbes Field – Pittsburgh Pirates
Griffith Stadium – Washington Senators
Crosley Field – Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Municipal Stadium – Cleveland Indians
Wrigley Field – Chicago Cubs
Comiskey Park – Chicago White Sox
Briggs Stadium – Detroit Tigers
Sportsman Park – St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns

Notice how there are lots of “Parks” and “Fields” but not too many Stadiums. These are the ballparks that I heard about when I was a boy listening to Dodger games on my transistor radio every night. I will be talking more about these ballparks as the teams play there during the 1951 season.

Since we will be following the New York Major League teams and the Los Angeles teams of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), now is a good time to mention the ballparks that hosted the Los Angeles teams. The Los Angeles Angels (of Los Angeles and the PCL) were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs and played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The other LA team was the Hollywood Stars. The Stars played at Gilmore Field. More about those ballparks as we get into the season.

We are now ONE WEEK to Opening Day 1951. The Reds will open the season at Crosley Field in Cincinnati against Pittsburgh. Can’t wait.