Dictionary- Ribbie
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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 53 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 December.
December 26
1950 With a large portion going to the players’ pension fund, out-going Commissioner Happy Chandler announces the Gillette Razor Company has purchased the television rights to the All Star game for six years for six million dollars.
Albert Benjamin “Happy” Chandler, Sr. was born July 14, 1898 in Corydon, Kentucky.
He was the second Commissioner of baseball, succeeding the legendary Judge Landis. He was elected in 1945, after having served as Governor of Kentucky for four years and U.S. Senator for six. He was perceived as a players’ Commissioner, and he cautioned owners to be less stubborn to avoid later confrontations. His advice was ignored.
His childhood was a difficult one. According to his autobiography, his earliest memory was his mother abandoning the family when he was four years old. Though cared for by his father and other relatives, by age eight, he was selling newspapers to supplement the family’s income. At sixteen, his fourteen-year-old brother died after falling from a tree while picking cherries.
After graduating from high school and against his father’s wishes, Chandler enrolled at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY. He starred in three sports along with working odd jobs to support himself.
Chandler graduated from Transylvania in 1921, taking with him both a bachelor’s degree and his life-long nickname, “Happy,” which he was given because of his jovial attitude. From there, Chandler studied at Harvard Law School, coaching high school athletics to earn money.
He returned to Lexington in 1922, attaining a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Kentucky two years later. Again, he funded his education by coaching high school sports.
Turning to politics after a brief stint in private law practice, he was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1929 and became his state’s lieutenant governor in 1932 and governor in 1935. He modernized the state’s government and then resigned so that he could be appointed to an unexpired seat in the U.S. Senate; he was elected to a full term in 1942.
Following the death of Kenesaw Mountain Landis in November 1944, the major league club owners began searching for a replacement.
An official in the War Department began campaigning for Chandler’s election to the post. Despite being the last candidate put forth in the April 1945 meetings, he was elected by a unanimous vote of the team owners, and resigned his Senate seat in October of that year.
Chandler’s first year in office was marked by the decision of Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey to break baseball’s race barrier. Although all 15 other clubs disapproved, Chandler welcomed the idea, and in October 1945, the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to a 1946 contract with their Montreal farm team in the International League. In 1947, Robinson became the first black player to play Major League Baseball.
Chandler’s second full year, 1947, was a stormy one. A feud had developed between New York Yankees President Larry MacPhail and Dodgers officials, including Rickey and manager Leo Durocher.
MacPhail had signed Dodgers coaches Chuck Dressen and John Corriden as aides to newly-hired Yankee manager Bucky Harris while they were still employed by the Dodgers. Durocher, on the other hand, had caused a furor by actively seeking the Yankee managerial position while still employed by the Dodgers.
On April 9, just six days before Opening Day, the Commissioner suspended Durocher for the entire season for “conduct detrimental to baseball,” regarding his association with gamblers.
Chandler also suspended Dressen for 30 days and fined MacPhail and the Brooklyn club $2,000 each.
It was also during 1947 that the player pension fund was first created. Chandler used the money from a three-year, $475,000 contract for radio rights to the World Series to establish the plan.
In 1949, Chandler negotiated a seven-year, $4,370,000 contract with the Gillette Safety Razor Company and the Mutual Broadcasting System for radio rights to the World Series, with the proceeds going directly into the pension fund.
The next year, Chandler negotiated a six-year, $6,000,000 contract with the same two companies for television rights to the World Series and All-Star Game. This money also went directly into the player pension fund.
Having made some decisions that riled several owners, he was fired after one term, receiving only nine of the twelve votes necessary to continue. When he left, his reputation for being good-humored, iron-willed, and honest remained intact.
Chandler returned to Versailles and continued to practice law.
In 1955 he ran for and was elected to a second term as governor of Kentucky.
Oddly enough, Chandler, the backer of Robinson, supported the segregationist Dixiecrats in the 1948 presidential elections. But, after being reelected to the office of governor, he used National Guard troops to enforce school integration. Then, in another turnaround, in 1968 he unsuccessfully sought the vice-presidential spot on segregationist George Wallace’s team.
Albert “Happy” Chandler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
He died in Versailles, Kentucky on June 15, 1991.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: R
Ribbie
An acronym for RBI, the abbreviation for Run Batted In. The term tends to be spoken rather than written, but does show up in print on occasion.
Willie McCovey was one of the first players to be quoted using the term. When it first began to show up in the early to mid-1960′s, it fell roughly on some ears.
Some refered to it as an “unimaginative word” and “inane.”
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
I recently received the following email, it states:
I really enjoy your shows, found them on iTunes at the start of the season and listen to them all.
The Jimmy Piersall episode was incredible, what an amazing story! It has to be true, no one could make that up! For me it was your best story of the season because Piersall’s life was so much more than hits, batting average, etc.
I grew up in NYC and my first baseball game ever was at the Polo Grounds in 1962, Mets vs, Cards. I actually found the box score online, Stan Musial had 3 HRs, but we cheered when the Mets scored their only run in the 9th, loosing 15-1.
I was a Met fan and remember Piersall running the bases backwards on #100, but forgot that Casey did not see the humor in it.
Bob Dashman
Round Rock, Texas
I then received a followup email from Bob that says:
I looked at the box score of that game, not bad, I had a chance to see Bob Gibson, Stan Musial and Curt Flood. And of course, Marvelous Marv Throneberry for the Mets. Marv might be an interesting show, player with limited talent becomes a cult hero on a terrible team…
Thanks for the comments Bob. Marvelous Marv will make it to a future BHP.
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.
