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 70 of the 2007 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of October.
October 1
1961
Ted Kluszewski plays in his last game after appearing in 107 games for the Los Angeles Angels this season, batting just .243 but hitting 15 home runs.
Theodore Bernard Kluszewski, nicknamed Big Klu, was born September 10, 1924 in Argo,
Illinois.
The sleeveless Cincinnati uniforms of the 1950s were made to allow Kluszewski’s bulging muscles room to move, but he was more than a slugger. The former University of Indiana football star hit with marked consistency and awesome power and fielded his position smoothly.
Due to wartime travel restrictions, the Cincinnati Reds, who normally held spring training in Tampa, Florida, were forced to train at the University of Indiana from 1943 to 1945. Kluszewski drew the attention of Reds’ groundskeeper Matty Schwab. Schwab saw Kluszewski blasting balls over an embankment near the baseball diamond that none of the other Reds players were able to get near. Reds scouts were sufficiently impressed, but Kluszewski, who was also a standout tight end on the Hoosiers’ football squad, did not immediately sign because he didn’t want to endanger his collegiate eligibility. Instead, he signed after he graduated in 1946, and after batting .325 and .377 in two minor league seasons, was called up to the Reds and became their starting first baseman at the end of 1948.
Soon after the 6′-2″, 240-pound Kluszewski joined the Reds, he cut off the sleeves of his uniform, much to the chagrin of the Reds front office. He did it because the tight sleeves constricted his large biceps and shoulders and interfered with his swing. Kluszewski later stated, “They got pretty upset, but it was either that or change my swing — and I wasn’t about to change my swing.”
“Big Klu” enjoyed his most productive years from 1953 through 1956, with home run totals of 40, 49, 47 and 35 while driving in over 100 baserunners in each.
He led the National League with 49 homers and 141 Runs Batted In in 1954 and averaged 43 Home Runs and 116 Runs Batted In from 1953 to 1956. He also hit .300 seven times.
In 1955 he led in hits and set a modern National League record by scoring runs in 17 straight games.
Kluszewski also led National League first basemen in fielding percentage five straight years, a major league record.
Starting in 1951, he topped National League first basemen in fielding five straight years, a Major League record.
Ted Kluszewski was selected as an All-Star in four seasons, and was a career .298 hitter with 279 home runs and 1028 Runs Batted In in 1718 games. In ten of his fifteen seasons, Kluszewski walked more often than he struck out; 492 walks to 365 strikeouts. In 1955, he hit 47 homers while striking out only 40 times. No player since him has hit 40 homers and struck out 40 or fewer times in the same season.
Injuries eventually cut into his skills, and he spent his last five seasons pinch-hitting nearly as often as he started. Kluszewski was limited to playing just four full seasons in his fifteen-year career.
He spent his last four seasons switching teams.
He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1958 season, and in August 1959 he was sent to the Chicago White Sox to give the team added punch. They eventually won the American League pennant and faced the National League champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the World Series.
In the first game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, Kluszewski slugged two home runs and drove in five in an 11-0 rout of the Dodgers. However, the Dodgers would win the next four games and take the series with strong pitching that neutralized the White Sox’ hitters — except for Kluszewski, who hit .391 with three home runs and ten Runs Batted In, which tied Gil Hodges’ mark set in the same series.
When Major League Baseball decided to expand in 1960, Kluszewski was one of the players left unprotected. He was selected by the Los Angeles Angels.
Although hampered by back and leg problems, Kluszewski was the undisputed star of the Angels’ first game ever, on April 11, 1961 against the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium, belting two home runs.
Behind right-hander Eli Grba, the Angels defeated the Orioles 7-2. During his final season, Kluszewski hit .243 with 15 home runs and 39 Runs Batted In in 107 games.
After retirement as a player, Kluszewski was a hitting coach, most notably under Sparky Anderson with the Cincinnati Reds during their outstanding teams in the early and mid 1970′s, which saw them win World Series championships in 1975 and 1976.
In 1979, he became the Reds’ minor league hitting instructor, a position he held until 1986, when he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent emergency bypass surgery.
He retired afterward.
Ted Kluszewski died on March 29, 1988 in Cincinnati at age 63.
Kluszewski was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum in 1962 and his #18 was retired by the Reds on July 18, 1998.
Great American Ball Park, the new home of the Cincinnati Reds, opened its gates on March 31, 2003. Before the inaugural game, the Reds dedicated a bronze statue of Kluszewski on the Crosley Terrace area outside the main gate.
Ted Kluszewski is prominently mentioned in the first line of the chorus to Terry Cashman’s 1981 song “Talkin’ Baseball”, a musical tribute to baseball.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: P
protect the runner
To swing at a given pitch to prevent a runner, who is attempting to steal a base or initiate a hit-and-run play, from being thrown out by the catcher. At a minimum the batter is trying to distract the catcher and hamper him from throwing out the runner.
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
This segment comes to you compliments of listener Stan Osowiecki.
Yale Field
New Haven, Connecticut, is most often known for Yale University and being the proclaimed birthplaces of pizza, at Pepe’s Pizzeria, and hamburgers, at Louis Lunch. But the city also has a rich history of baseball on both the collegiate and professional levels.
The origins of baseball in New Haven date back to the 1860s with the formation of the Yale University Bulldogs baseball team. The early days of the Yale team found them playing at various open spaces throughout the city until the University purchased an apple orchard and farm in adjacent West Haven, Connecticut in 1882 as the location of the school’s athletic fields and designated the land as a place for “young men to frolic and play the Ivy League way”. The first documented use of this land for official baseball games was in 1902 and on June 16, 1914, a crowd of nearly 12,000 fans crammed the field for the Yale-Harvard commencement game.
While the Bulldogs football stadium, Yale Bowl, was constructed in 1914, it would still be several years a permanent baseball field would be designed and constructed. In 1927, Yale began construction of a concrete and steel structure at the approximate cost of $500,000. The field was officially opened in 1928 with a game between the Bulldogs and the Eastern League’s New Haven Professionals, resulting in a 12-0 win for the Professionals.
During the 1930s and 1940s, many Major League teams, including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves, made stops to Yale Field while barnstorming during the preseason. In fact, on one early visit to Yale Field, Babe Ruth remarked that the playing surface was the best he had ever seen. The Babe would return in 1948 for one of his last public appearances, presenting a copy of his autobiography to Yale baseball captain George H. W. Bush as a gift for the Yale University library. The 41st President was not the only Commander-in-Chief to frequent Yale Field. William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States and Yale graduate, routinely attended games after his term. His regular presence prompted the University to install a seat twice the size of all others to accommodate the former President’s 300 pound frame.
Throughout the years, Yale Field has hosted many notable games. The most famous of these, not only in Yale history, but in NCAA tournament history, was the May 21, 1981, Northeast Regionals game between the St. John’s Redmen, featuring pitcher Frank Viola, and the Bulldogs, with ace pitcher, Ron Darling. While both pitchers were on the top of their game that day, Darling was especially noteworthy, firing 11 consecutive hitless and scoreless innings until the Redmen broke up the no-hitter in the 12th frame and scored the only game run on a double steal of second and home in that inning.
Since its construction, many additions and modifications have been made to Yale Field. One of the earliest was the assembly of a 35-foot manual scoreboard in centerfield, which was included sometime after play began in 1928. Another was the addition of dugouts. Because they were not original to the stadium, there is no direct access to the clubhouses, requiring players to go through the stands first. It wasn’t until New Haven was awarded a Double-A, Eastern League franchise in 1992 that upgrades to make the stadium more modern, including better concession stands, were made.
The New Haven Ravens began play in 1993 as a minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies and served as host of the 1998 Double-A All-Star Game. After the 1998 season, the Ravens acted as a farm club of the Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals and finally the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2000, the team was crowned the Eastern League Champions. Following the 2003 season, the Ravens moved to Manchester, N.H., and are now known as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Following the Ravens’ departure, an aggressive renovation of Yale Field occurred with the removal and replacement of the majority of the grandstands, which had stood in their original 1927 form, and the addition of a large picnic area in right field, featuring a “short porch” in the field, measuring only 306 feet from home plate. The renovations attracted the Berkshire Black Bears from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to relocate to New Haven. The team was renamed the New Haven County Cutters, and as a member of the Canadian-American (Can-Am) independent league, has called Yale Field home since 2004.
With a row of the original 1927 seats found in the back of the grandstand and the plaques throughout Yale Field’s concourse celebrating the names of those who have played at the stadium, from the legends of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Smoky Joe Wood and Ted Williams to modern-day stars such as Derek Jeter, Vladimir Guerrero and Todd Helton, fans are still able to embrace the rich history of the field.
Sources
Ballpark Digest. 2007. “Yale Field”. http://www.ballparkdigest.com/visits/yale_field.htm
Mason, T. 2007. Maple Street Press Guide to New England Ballparks. Maple Street Press; Hingham, Massachusetts.
New Haven County Cutters. 2007. “Yale Field”. http://cuttersbaseball.com/field
Rubin, S. 2003. Baseball in New Haven. Arcadia Press; Charleston, South Carolina.
Yale University. 2007. “Yale Field”. http://yalebulldogs.cstv.com/facilities/facyalefield.html
Thank you Stan, and as promised “You get the credit.”
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment. I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener. You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US. Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. You can leave a voice mail at: 206-888-6506. If you need more baseball, I invite you to check out Just Baseball at justbaseballpodcast.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
TWIBH- Ted
Kluszewski
Dictionary- Protect
the Runner
Tour- Yale
Field
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