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 10 of the 2008 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of February.
February 28
1985 Rick Reuschel signs as a free-agent with the Pirates and spends the first two months in the minors. After being called up in May, ‘Big Daddy’ wins 14 games and the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Rickey Eugene Reuschel, nicknamed “Big Daddy,” was born May 16, 1949 in Quincy, Illinois.
Rick Reuschel didn’t look like a major league pitcher, but he parlayed his mastery of a nasty sinker and the split-finger pitch into a 19-year career and 214 wins.
Reuschel’s two-part career began as a stellar starter for the Cubs.
The portly Illinois native won 10 or more games each of nine straight seasons, from 1972 through 1980, becoming one of the club’s all-time leaders in wins, games and strikeouts.
Teammate Mike Krukow tagged Reuschel Big Daddy during this period.
He came to the Cubs at a time when they were declining and provided a strong arm for the Cubs increasingly mediocre staff.
His older brother Paul also pitched for the Cubs for a few years while Rick was pitching, but was not nearly as effective as Rick. Both of them were farm boys with strong physiques and plain-spoken ways.
Both were known for being big. Rick, in particular, was listed as 6-foot-4 and 225. Rick could run surprisingly well for his size. He was frequently used as a pinch runner on days he was not pitching. He was also a fair – though awkward-looking – hitter, batting well over .200 several times, which is considered excellent for a pitcher.
Rick and Paul became the first brothers to combine on a major league shutout, August 21, 1975.
His best year was in 1977, when the Cubs made a brief run at the pennant and Reuschel won 20 games.
Rick was sent to the New York Yankees in 1981. That year, Reuschel made his first World Series appearances. Rick was ineffective in that Series, and it was assumed he was about done.
He missed the 1982 season with a torn right rotator cuff that threatened to end his career.
He returned to the Cubs and was on the roster in 1984 when they won the National League East and made the playoffs, but, somewhat controversially, he was not named to the playoff roster.
Reuschel was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1985 as a free agent and had a 14-8 won-loss record with a solid 2.27 Earned Run Average for the last-place Pirates, earning him the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year award.
Possessing outstanding control, Reuschel tied a Pittsburgh record with 13 wins at Three Rivers Stadium that season. He also won a Gold Glove, testimony to athletic skills belied by his physique.
Reuschel was traded by the rebuilding Pirates to the San Francisco Giants in late 1987. Finally back with a contender, he became the ace of the Giants’ staff and helped them make a late run to the National League West Division title, their first division title since 1971.
He followed that season by winning 19 games for the Giants in 1988.
In 1989, Reuschel won 17 games for the Giants as he helped lead them to the World Series, their first since 1962.
In the World Series, against the Oakland Athletics, Reuschel made one appearance. In game 2 he was the losing pitcher, giving up five earned runs, and five hits in four innings.
At 40 years old, he started the 1989 All-Star Game, surrendering back-to-back homers to Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs to begin the contest.
In a 19-year career, he had a won/loss record of 214-191 in 557 games. Reuschel had 102 career complete games and 26 of those were shutouts.
He retired after being released by the San Francisco Giants in June 1991.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: E
eat the ball
To hold on to a safely hit ball without getting rid of it quickly.
Phil Rizzuto, quoted in Roger Kahn & Al Heifer’s, Mutual Baseball Almanac, advises: “The only way to avoid eating it is to reach into your glove and grab it in a hurry. That’s just a matter of reflexes, but you have to have the reflexes.”
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
This segment comes to you compliments of listener Chase Groomes.
Pulaski, Virginia’s Historic Calfee Park
In the summer of 2005, I drove down a beautiful winding highway cut through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to watch a friend take the field for the Pulaski Blue Jays, a rookie league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Before long, I saw the light standards of the Jays’ home field rising out of the lush green surrounding forest. I had arrived at Historic Calfee Park in Pulaski, Virginia! Calfee Park is listed as the ninth oldest professional minor-league baseball park in use in America, and in my opinion, is one of the most perfect examples of a family-friendly, community-centered, small-town ballpark.
One of the best words to describe Calfee Park’s setting might be “charming,” and is certainly reminiscent of the “glory days of baseball.” The park is tucked into a natural amphitheater off of U.S. Route 11 in a valley within a residential neighborhood. On two sides, it is surrounded by the dense forests covering the northern flanks of Draper Mountain, and on the other sides by a number of houses that enjoy perfect views of the game from their front porches! It has a seating capacity of approximately 2250, and its dimensions are 338 to left, 405 to center, and 301 to right, where there is a 19 foot fence to make things interesting.
Calfee Park’s charm is the result of a wonderful history—one that has led it to be listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places, in fact. It was constructed in 1935 as a Works Progress Administration project, and was named after then mayor of Pulaski,, Ernest W. Calfee. The oldest buildings are a beautiful stone-fronted entranceway of medieval character and a grandstand with concrete seating and a steel canopy, both buildings designed by local engineer Edgar H. Millirons. Calfee Park’s level playing surface was created with fill in the 1930s, and lies over a buried stream, a tributary of Peak Creek and the New River, which is channeled through a stone-lined tunnel.
The park is popularly known as Calfee Park, and it was originally known as the Pulaski Athletic Field until it was dedicated in October 1935. Since the 1970s, the field itself has been used exclusively for baseball, but historically it was used for football games, horse shows, and other events as well.
Though improvements have been made on an ongoing basis since 1935, Calfee Athletic Field retains its historic charm as a small-town ball park, perfectly merging the old with new to wonderfully accommodate the modern game.
Though American baseball is a Northern invention, the game found its way into the South during the Civil War. Games were organized between Union and Confederate soldiers during lulls in the fighting, and the sport was demonstrated by Union prisoners in Confederate prison camps and taught to rebel prisoners in the Northern camps.
After the war, baseball eventually came to the town of Pulaski, originally known as Martin’s Tank, which grew up around a depot on the Virginia & Tennessee rail line. The community boomed during the railroad prosperity of the 1880s and continued to prosper in the depressed 1890s when the county seat was moved to the town.
Zinc works, an iron foundry, and other industrial plants with large male workforces were established, providing fertile ground for baseball enthusiasm, and a “Pulaski baseball team” formed by 1906. Pulaski fit the mold of towns throughout the South where businessmen fielded teams to attract and keep motivated employees, as well as provide community boosterism.
However, hardship ensued with the Great Depression of the 1930s. The community’s outlook began to improve with the implementation of New Deal policies in 1933, and in September of that year Pulaski’s citizenry staged a “recovery parade” in the downtown. With the creation of the Works Progress Administration in 1935, Pulaski Mayor Ernest W. Calfee sought funding for make-work projects that would result in lasting improvements to the town’s infrastructure. By September the town had decided to construct an athletic field—this was the genesis of Calfee Athletic Field.
In early October blasting for an access road was underway, work that resulted in the accidental death of a cow belonging to a Mr. James Josey. At an October 8 town council meeting, Mr. Josey received compensation for his cow and it was agreed upon that the park would be named in honor of Mayor Calfee for his “untiring efforts” on behalf of the project.
The athletic field’s dedication three days later, October 11, coincided with the first event to be held there, a horse show. Calfee Park’s inaugural baseball game was an exhibition match scheduled for April 9, 1936 between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.
The local paper anticipated the arrival of newsreel photographers and proudly announced “Pulaski’s park will be flashed on screens in thousands of movie houses.” Cinematic fame was not to be, however, for the game was rained out. On June 2, 1936 the first full season of baseball was kicked off when the Pulaski Counts defeated a team from the neighboring community of Narrows. The Counts, at first a semi-professional team in the Blue Ridge League, were christened after the county’s namesake, Revolutionary War hero Count Casimir Pulaski.
The local Southwest Times reported on the game and commented on the galvanizing effect of the new park. ”Not since the olden days has baseball fever been more rampant,” it concluded. More wooden seats were added in early 1936, and in April the town announced that it would begin construction on the present grandstand, which was probably completed by the beginning of June. By early June 1936 a scoreboard had been donated to the park by the Coca Cola Company and a press box had been erected.
In 1946 the Pulaski Counts affiliated with the Appalachian League, a minor league established in 1910, and rose to the top of the standings in 1947 and 1948 through the efforts of pitcher William Arrildt, batter Norman Postolese, and other gifted players. In 1947 the local paper ran short biographies of the home team players using asterisks by several of the names to inform the local ladies that those players were “single.”
The park played host to numerous entertainments during the late 1940s, including carnivals, rodeos, religious services, boxing matches, band practices, home shows, and, on July 4, 1949, a “sham battle” and fireworks display staged by local veterans groups. Calfee Park has been the home of a number of bush teams associated with major league teams throughout its history. Those teams include the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies (during which time, seats from Philadelphia’s Connie Mack field were installed), the Atlanta Braves, the Texas Rangers, and the Toronto Blue Jays. The lights at Calfee Park stayed off for the 2007 season, but the Seattle Mariners will be fielding a Appy League team there beginning in 2008.
Well-known players who began their careers at Calfee Park include Mike Anderson, Larry Christianson, Jeff Blauser, David Justice, Javier Lopez, and Mark Wohlers. In recent years the field has witnessed a contest between arch rivals Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia that resulted in a “bench clearing brawl” as well as other, more peaceable activities that sustain the park as a community institution.
The charm of Calfee Park has not been lost on the national media, as it has received mention in National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and other magazine articles about America’s historic minor-league ball parks. The next time you are in the Blue Ridge Mountain region, stop by to give Historic Calfee Park your notice as well, and to enjoy its beautiful confines!
Chase states that: “Almost all information in this Tour comes from Calfee Park’s application to the National Register of Historic Places but was edited for length.”
Thank you Chase, 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- Rick
Reuschel
Dictionary- Eat
the Ball
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