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Last Updated: Aug 22, 2008 - 12:10:50 AM |
On December 8, 1941, before a joint session of Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his address asking for a declaration of war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor the previous day, began with eleven words that have echoed in history, “Yesterday December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.” And infamously that date has ever since been known.
Last week, on August 14, something in the back of my mind was nagging at me that had some especially infamous significance in the game of baseball, something that I finally recalled when discussing with a friend this year’s three way National League Central pennant race involving the first place Cubs, second place Brewers, and third place Cardinals. With only about 35 games remaining to be played this season, reminders of an infamous date may make even the most optimistic Cubs fan a bit nervous. On August 14, 1969, the Cubs had a season best 9.5 game lead over the Mets in their quest to become the first National League East pennant winner, thereby giving them their best chance to return to the World Series for the first time in 24 years. Infamously for Cubs fans, on the following day the Baby Bears began what was to become one of the worst pennant collapses in Major League baseball history. After only thirteen days, the red-hot Mets had pulled within two games and finished the season on October 2nd with an 8 game lead over the second place Cubs. The Cubs had lost 14 of their final 20 games thereby helping the aptly christened “Amazin’ Mets” win their first pennant of any kind and go on to an eventual World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.
Interestingly enough, the Cubs and Cardinals have both been involved in four other historical pennant collapses in their storied histories, each however coming out on top over a team that faded badly down the stretch.
In 1934 the New York Giants became the first team to enter September with a seven-game lead and lose the pennant. The Giants went 13-13 for the month while the Cardinals finished at 21-7 giving them the N.L. crown by two games.
On September 4th, 1938 the Pirates also led the Cubs by seven games. But thanks to a September record of 22-7 and Gabby Hartnett’s famous “homer in the gloamin’” in a September 28 6-5 victory over the Pirates, the Cubs won the pennant by 2 games.
On August 5th, 1942, the defending National League champion Brooklyn Dodgers had a 10 game lead over the second place Cardinals. St. Louis won 43 of their final 51 games finishing with 106 victories and the N.L. pennant. The second place Dodgers 104 victories made them the team with the most wins in Major League history by a team that did not make the playoffs.
In late September of 1964, the Phillies led the Cardinals by 6.5 games with 12 remaining to be played. Philadelphia proceeded to lose 10 in a row and St. Louis finished 9-3 giving them their first National League crown in 18 years by a game over the Phillies who finished tied for second with the Reds. If the Cardinals had lost to the Mets in the final game of the year, they would have ended the season in an unprecedented three-way tie for first with the Phillies and Reds.
This weeks question comes from Ben in Waterloo who gives this base running scenario. “A runner on first with less than two outs runs as the pitch is thrown to the plate. The batter hits a deep fly ball which is caught and by this time the runner from first is nearly to third base. Can the runner be put out by touching second base before the runner touches second on his way back to first?” No. Rule 7.10 states “Any runner shall be called out, on appeal, when- (a) After a fly ball is caught he fails to touch his original base before HE or his ORIGINAL BASE is tagged. (b) With the ball in play, while advancing or returning to a base, he fails to touch each base in order before HE or a MISSED BASE is tagged.” Therefore since the runner between second and third didn’t have the opportunity to retouch second on his return to first before second was tagged, it can’t be considered a “missed base”. Either the runner or first base would have to be tagged to make the put out.
In another couple of months the baseball season will be behind us and football will be in full swing, so in coming weeks, both baseball and football will share time in this column. As many of you may recall in my first column, any alleged “expertise” this writer may have tried to convey has come from 25 plus years refereeing and umpiring football, basketball and baseball. I don’t know about you, but the dwindling number of baseball games remaining to be played is somewhat of a downer. Baseball has and always will be my favorite sport, perhaps because it coincides with summer and all the other outdoor activities it brings. My passion for the game of baseball reminds me of something President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, befitting of anyone who truly loves the game. “When I was a small boy in Kansas”, Eisenhower reminisced, “a friend of mine and I went fishing. I told him when I grew up I wanted to be a real Major League baseball player. My friend said that he’d like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.”
Send your questions to ref@eiherald.com or write to P.O. Box 336, Victor, IA, 52347.
© Copyright 2008 by The East Iowa Herald
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