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 9 of the 2007 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of February.
February 27
1948 Pie Traynor and Herb Pennock are elected to the Hall of Fame.
Herbert Jefferis Pennock was born February 10, 1894 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. This pitcher was best known for his time spent with the star-studded New York Yankee teams of the mid-to-late-1920s and early 1930s.
Pennock came from historic Kennett Square, PA, amid comfortable country acres whose owners were horsemen and fox hunters. Pennock himself was an expert rider and a master of hounds. As a profitable hobby, he raised silver foxes for their pelts. Hence, the cumbersome but appropriate nickname: the Knight or Squire of Kennett Square.
Pennock went straight from high school to the major leagues by joining the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912.
Originally an unpromising first baseman, Pennock found his true talent on the mound. Only 18 when he joined the Athletics, Pennock steadily improved, going 11-4 with a 2.79 Earned Run Average in just 151 2/3 innings pitched for the 1914 World Series-bound Athletics.
He started poorly the following year and was sold to the Boston Red Sox by Philadelphia manager Connie Mack.
A year after not seeing any major league action while serving in the Navy during World War I, Pennock had a break-out year in 1919. He went 16-8 with a 2.71 Earned Run Average in 219 innings pitched. It was the first time he topped 200 innings in a season, but that would be the trend over the decade.
After a dismal 1922 campaign in which he went 10-17, Pennock was traded to the New York Yankees. In New York, he had some of his finest seasons. He won two games in the 1923 Series triumph over the Giants and in 1924, went 21-9 with a 2.83 Earned Run Average while striking out a career-high 101 batters.
He followed with a 21-9 record in 1924, and was a combined 59-25 in 1926 through 1928 including a career-high 23 wins in 1926. He added two more World Series victories in 1926, and one in 1927 – a jewel in which he retired the first 22 Pirates he faced and ended with a three-hitter.
Pennock pitched with grace, economy, and style. Nothing he did was overpowering; everything he did was tantalizingly effective. A typical Pennock game had few strikeouts, but even fewer walks – 2.3 on average.
He was hittable. Over 22 years, he allowed more than a hit an inning, yet those hits somehow produced only 3.61 earned runs a game. He seemed to give up many lazy flies to the outfield.
In 1929, Pennock saw his pitching time and pitching quality diminish. Over the rest of his career, he never posted more than 189 innings pitched and didn’t see his Earned Run Average drop below 4.00.
Pennock eventually bowed out of the game in 1934, after a season spent largely in relief for the Red Sox. He finished with 240 wins, 162 losses and a 3.60 ERA.
Even-tempered, Pennock never got rattled under pressure. He threw with an effortless, unvarying motion, and it was said that a peek inside his head would reveal the weakness of every batter in the league. He pitched 35 shutouts.
Pennock appeared in five World Series; one with Philadelphia and four with New York. He amassed a 5-0 career postseason record, and was a part of three World Series championships; 1923, 1927 and 1932.
The Squire retired in 1934 after one year as a Red Sox reliever. He was a Boston coach, 1936-40, then became the supervisor of their farm system.
In 1944 he became the general manager of the Phillies, a post he held until his death.
He died January 30, 1948 at age 53 just weeks before he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
batting practice (also referred to as BP)
The period before a game or at some other time when players warm up or practice their hitting technique.
Sometimes the term is used to describe a period within a game when one team’s hitters have so totally dominated a given pitcher that the game resembles a batting practice session.
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium
Atlanta Georgia 1965 – 1997
During the 1990s, 50,000 people sat in the seats of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium every single night during baseball season, but it wasn’t always such a great spot for baseball. Once the excitement died down after the Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966, the stadium became infamous for its ghost-town atmosphere. It was there that only 1,762 people turned out to watch the great Nolan Ryan pitch and a mere 970 came to see a Houston Astros-Braves doubleheader in 1976.
When new owner Ted Turner arrived in 1976, he decided to stage a promotion every day. What followed were some of the most memorable promotional events in the history of baseball. There was Wedlock and Headlock Day-in which the Braves let 34 couples get married on the field before a game and then staged a pro wrestling match after it. Despite those events, the Braves drew less than a million fans for eight straight seasons in the 1970s.
For many years, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was also known as the home of baseball’s worst playing surface. The ballpark didn’t even have a full-time groundskeeper until 1989. Before that, it had been tended by a city streets crew.
When Bobby Cox became manager, he and General Manager John Schuerholz changed almost everything about the stadium. The old infield was ripped out and the entire stadium was resurfaced. The NFL Falcons moved out, leaving the sod safe from damage by football cleats.
As the team on the field gradually transformed itself into the National League’s dynasty of the 1990s, this onetime baseball laughingstock suddenly became one of the most electrifying ballparks in the land.
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron slammed a pitch from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing over the left field fence for the 715th homer of his storied career, lifting Aaron past Babe Ruth for the all-time home run lead.
Three statues stood outside the stadium honoring Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Phil Niekro.
With an altitude of more than 1,000 feet above sea level, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was the highest park in the majors, until the Colorado Rockies entered the major leagues. This resulted in many homers and the nickname “the Launching Pad.”
Big Victor, a large totem-pole-styled figure, stood in the stadium in 1966. The huge head tilted and the eyes rolled whenever a Brave hit a home run.
Chief Noc-A-Homa’s Wigwam replaced Big Victor in 1967. From 1967 through 1977 the teepee stood in various places in left and right field. From 1978 to August 1982 the teepee was moved to left-center, occupying 235 seats between aisles 128 and 130. From August to early September 1982 it was removed in anticipation of additional revenue in the playoffs, “causing” a disastrous tailspin for the first-place Braves. Its replacement coincided with the Braves’ comeback to win the division crown in 1982.
The teepee’s removal on August 11, 1983, saw another losing streak that could not be overcome by its return on September 16. It stood as a permanent outfield installation until the Braves moved to Turner Field.
The Braves moved across the parking lot to Turner Field following the 1996 Olympic Games.
The stadium was demolished on August 2, 1997.
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- Herb
Pennock,
Baseball Dictionary- Batting Practice,
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