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 46 of the 2006 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 2 week of August.
August 13
1969 In a 6-4 defeat to the Reds, Bobby Bonds becomes the fourth player in major league history steal at least 30 bases and hit at least thirty home runs in the same season. The other members of the 30/30 club include Ken Williams with the 1922 Browns, Willie Mays in 1956 & 1957 with the Giants and Hank Aaron with the 1963 Braves.
Bobby Lee Bonds was born March 15, 1946 in Riverside CA. Noted for his outstanding combination of power hitting and speed, he was the first player to have more than two seasons of 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, doing so a record five times.
Born in Riverside, California, Bonds played high school baseball at Riverside Polytechnic High School with Dusty Baker, and signed with the Giants in 1964. In his major league debut on June 25, 1968, in the seventh inning against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park he became the only player in the 20th century to hit a grand slam as his first hit.
In his first full season in 1969, he reached the 30-30 club with 45 stolen bases and 32 homers and led the league in runs. He also led the league in strikeouts, setting a major league record with 185. He repeated that feat the following year, setting a new strikeout record of 189.
In 1970, he stole a career-high 48 bases, the highest total by a Giant since Frankie Frisch in 1921. In 1971, he led the Giants with a .288 batting average as they won the National League West. A bruised rib cage limited his play in the National League Championship Series, his only postseason appearance, where he batted 2-for-8 in the series.
Bpnds was a three-time Gold Glove Award winner in 1971, 1973 and 1974.
He had his best year in 1973, narrowly missing the first 40-homer, 40-stolen base season with 39 homers and 43 steals.
Against Pittsburgh, he led off consecutive games with homers on June 5 and 6, and set a then-Major League record of 11 leadoff homers. He ended the 1973 season in a slump that carried into 1974. He regained his batting eye, but was traded after the season to the Yankees for Bobby Murcer, starting his nomadic period.
The Yankees made him their number three hitter, and Bonds responded with another 30-30 effort with 85 Runs Batted In, and became the last National League outfielder to have an unassisted double play in a game against the Mets on May 31. But after the season, the Yankees traded him to California, where he played just 99 games because of an injured hand.
He rebounded in 1977 for the Angels with his third 30-30 year, with 37 homers and 41 stolen bases and driving in a career high 115 runs. In a nine-game span from August 2 to 11, he hit eight homers. Despite his fine season, he was traded in the off season to the White Sox, but played only 26 games before being shipped to the Rangers. His combined totals for the season gave him his second straight and fifth 30-30 season, yet he was again traded in the off season to the Indians.
He had his last effective season in 1979, hitting 25 homers in spacious Municipal Stadium, and wanted his contract renegotiated. The Indians responded by trading him to the Cardinals, but he didn’t hit well and was platooned. He was then sold to the Cubs, but appeared in just 45 games.
In his career, he set a major league record of 35 leadoff homers, a mark eclipsed by Rickey Henderson in 1988. He and his son Barry are also the all-time leading father-son homer duo, passing the Bells and the Berras in 1989.
Bonds’ 461 career stolen bases ranked 12th in major league history upon his retirement. He was hitting instructor for the Indians from 1984-87, and rejoined the Giants as a coach in 1993 when his son Barry signed with the team as a free agent. As a player, coach, scout and front-office employee, he was with the Giants franchise for 23 seasons. Barry Bonds is the only other player in major league history to hit 300 home runs and steal 400 bases, and also the only other player to have five 30-30 seasons.
Bobby Bonds died of complications from lung cancer and a brain tumor at age 57 in San Carlos, California.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Baby Ruth
The name of a candy bar that many have long assumed was named after Babe Ruth, the baseball player. The manufacturer has long insisted that its product was so named in 1917, when the candy bar came out, for the daughter of President Grover Cleveland. Regardless, the closeness of “Baby Ruth” to “Babe Ruth” had the effect of tying the candy bar to the slugger. Robert Hendrickson in The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 1987, has been able to shed additional light on the situation: “In fact, when another company got Babe Ruth to endorse Babe Ruth’s Home Run Candy in 1926, Baby Ruth’s manufacturer appealed to the Patent Office on the grounds of infringement and won, the Babe’s candy bar never appearing.”
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
The Jacksonville Suns
This team is a AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and play their home games at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville in Jacksonville Florida.
Jacksonville pro baseball was founded in 1904. It began when the Jacksonville Jays participated in the South Atlantic League. In those days, baseball was played at Dixieland Park in the Southside of town. Back then, most fans would have to ride ferries to attend the games because there were still no bridges connecting one side of the St. John’s River to the other.
The first half-century witnessed Jacksonville professional baseball teams go through several league and name changes. From 1904-1950, they played in three different South Atlantic League classifications. The team that began its history as the Jays, also were known as the Scouts, Tarpons, Roses, Indians and Tars during this period. Red Cap Field, or Durkee Field, hosted both the minor league Tars and negro league Red Caps teams in the post-war years.
Jacksonville pro baseball’s longtime early home, Durkee Field, or Red Cap Field, still stands on Myrtle Avenue.
The Cleveland Indians moved their International League team from Havana, Cuba, to Jacksonville in 1962 and the Suns were born.
The Suns were affiliated with the Indians, the St. Louis Cardinals and then the New York Mets. The Mets brought Jacksonville its only triple-A Championship in 1968. But the Mets were lured away by a new ballpark in Norfolk, Va. In 1969, Jacksonville was without a professional baseball team for the first time since World War II.
The Southern League welcomed Jacksonville in 1970, where the team has played since. It is the longest consecutive association of any city with a Class AA league.
Following the 2000 season the Suns signed an agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Jacksonville Suns began a new chapter in 2003 with the opening of the $34 million Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The facility, built by Jacksonville taxpayers as part of the Better Jacksonville Plan, housed a franchise-record 359,979 fans in its inaugural season.
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
1910 In a game which features each team having 38 at-bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, 2 errors, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 1 passed ball, the Pirates and the Superbas, later to be known as the Dodgers, play to what else – an 8-8 tie.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. Transcripts of the game can be found at baseballhistorypodcast.blogspot.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
TWIBH- Bobby Bonds,
Baseball Dictionary- Baby Ruth,
Tour- Jacksonville Suns
]]>
