Welcome to the
Baseball History Podcast
Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities
I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 7 of the 2006 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 5 week of March.
On March 29th 1975, Mel Stottlemyre, suffering from a torn rotator cuff, is given his unconditional release by the Yankees.
Melvin Leon Stottlemyre, was born on November 13th, 1941 in Hazleton, Missouri. He came up to the Yankees in 1964 and spent the rest of his 11 year career with the Yankees. He compiled a 164-139 record and a 2.97 ERA along with 40 career shutouts.
Called up midseason in 1964, Stottlemyre went 9-3 to help the Yankees to their fifth consecutive pennant. In that year’s World Series, Stottlemyre faced future Hall Of Famer Bob Gibson three times in a seven-game Series. Stottlemyre won Game 1, got a no-decision in Game 5, and lost the decisive Game 7 as the Cardinals won the Series. Stottlemyre went on to pitch ten more seasons with the Yankees, including three 20-win seasons. Although the 1964 Series marked the Yankees’ 29th pennant in 44 seasons, the ensuing decade would be the franchise’s lowest period since the 1910s, with the Yankees not reaching the postseason during that time.
In 1977, Stottlemyre re-emerged in baseball as a roving instructor for the Seattle Mariners. After five seasons in that position, he was hired by the New York Mets to be their pitching coach. He stayed in that position for ten years, including the 1986 World Series championship year. He then followed with a two-year stint as the Houston Astros pitching coach. In 1996, Stottlemyre joined the Yankees coaching staff along with the incoming manager Joe Torre. They spent the next ten seasons working together, with the Yankees winning four World Series titles.
Stottlemyre’s sons Todd and Mel Jr. both followed their father in becoming major league pitchers.
Todd pitching for 14 big league seasons and Mel Jr. one season.
In this inning we’ll open up the
Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: F
Fielding average
A statistic that is used to evaluate a player’s fielding ability. It is computed by dividing a player’s total number of putouts and assists by the sum of his chances. Chances would include putouts, assists and errors.
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
The team is the Swing of the Quad Cities
This team is a Class A affiliate of the St Louis Cardinals. They play their home games in Davenport, Iowa at what is now John O’Donnell Stadium. The region is made up of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline/East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois.
John O’Donnell Stadium was conceived as Municipal Stadium more than 75 years ago as a minor part of a major riverfront renovation – along with a boat dock and LeClaire Park. It was thought that an athletic field would bring life to Davenport’s beautiful riverfront. Little did the planners know that, after seventy years of continuous use, it would become more than just a quaint ballpark – it would be known as a certifiable baseball landmark.
Municipal Stadium was dedicated May 26, 1931. A crowd of 2,791 watched the Davenport Blue Sox defeat the Dubuque Tigers, 7-1. Municipal Stadium was renamed in honor of former Davenport Times-Democrat sports editor John O’Donnell on May 27, 1971, following O’Donnell’s death.
While the Swing of the Quad Cities name was introduced to the Quad Cities in 2003, professional baseball in the Quad Cities, and specifically Davenport, is now entering its third century.
Quad Cities, who began their affiliation with the Angels in 1962, were called the Angels until 1979 when they switched affiliations to the Chicago Cubs
The Quad City Angels, as they had been known for 27 of the previous 33 years, decided to change their name. The front office invited suggestions from fans throughout the Quad Cities in a name the team contest. The name chosen for the team was the River Bandits, a name that would remain for a decade. The River Bandits would go on to find a new affiliation with the Houston Astros and then the Minnesota Twins beginning in the 1999 season. They have been an affiliate of the Cardinals since 2005.
The City of Davenport announced a comprehensive plan to completely renovate John O’Donnell Stadium, in a project scheduled for completion before the 2004 campaign. A new era in the Quad Cities baseball history began officially on October 20, 2003, when the team was officially renamed the Swing of the Quad Cities. The nickname Swing was chosen from nearly 2,000 entries in a name the team contest, held during the 2003 season.
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
I was asked by a friend recently if I give credit to my sources for this podcast. If you have listened to previous games, you know that I have not. In some upcoming extra innings I will discuss the various sources. For now, I can tell you that I use various websites and a couple of books. I have ordered some additional books that should be arriving soon.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
Baseball Dictionary â Fielding Average,
Tour - Swing of the Quad Cities
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