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 18 of the 2009 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of April.
April 22
1988 The Cardinals trade second baseman Tommy Herr to the Twins for outfielder Tom Brunansky
Thomas Andrew Brunansky, nicknamed “Bruno”, was born August 20, 1960 in Covina, California.
Chosen by his hometown California Angels in the first round of the June 1978 draft, Brunansky exhibited consistent, if unspectacular, power throughout his career. He was known as a durable and solid defensive right fielder with an excellent arm.
Drafted as the 14th overall selection, he held out while he debated accepting a scholarship to play football at Stanford. He was apparently convinced to opt for baseball following a visit to a Angels-Royals game on June 26, 1978, where he met with Angels owner Gene Autry and former President Richard Nixon.
According to a July 6, 1978 article in the Los Angeles Times, Nixon reportedly told Brunansky that he would enjoy himself tremendously playing baseball and that he would be fortunate to join an organization headed by as fine a man as Autry. Bruno thereafter signed with the Angels for the then-unheard of sum of $125,000.
His major league debut came in 1981, as he began the season with the Angels, playing 11 games before being demoted to the minors for the remainder of the season. He began the 1982 season in the Angels organization, but was traded in mid-May of that year to the Minnesota Twins.
Brunansky had a solid 1982 season with the Twins, posting a .272 average with 20 home runs. However, Brunansky’s power was hurt in the Metrodome, which favored left-handed pull hitters.
He is the only Twin to hit a grand slam, inside-the-park home run. He accomplished this on July 19th, 1982 in the 3rd inning against the Brewers at the Metrodome. It was his 12th home run of the season. Ironically, all four runs were considered unearned because of two Brewers’ fielding errors earlier in the inning.
He was the rightfielder on the 1982 All-Rookie team.
In 1983, he set a Twins club record with 15 game-winning Runs Batted In.
Brunansky went on to have several more good years with the Twins, including playing a key part in their 1987 World Series title run. In the American League Championship Series that year against the Detroit Tigers, he posted a .412 average, two home runs and nine Runs Batted In as the Twins prevailed in five games.
He was one of seven players with 20 or more homers each season from 1982 to 1987 and one of six to play 150 or more games each of those six years,
After getting off to a slow start in 1988 he was traded in April 1988 to the St. Louis Cardinals, a head-scratching move by the Twins. At the time, he was Minnesota’s active home run leader, fourth overall, when traded.
Initially shocked by the trade, Brunansky — who had been extremely popular with the fans in Minnesota — quickly made himself at home in St. Louis, smacking seven homers and driving in 34 runs in his first six weeks with the club.
After the all-star break, however, Brunansky slumped mightily, hitting below .200 for the rest of the season. Fed up with his lack of production, the Cards shipped Brunansky to the Red Sox in May 1990.
Brunansky played three seasons for the Red Sox and is best remembered for his role in the final game of the 1990 season. On October 3, 1990, Boston needed to beat the Chicago White Sox at Fenway to avoid a one-game playoff with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox held a 3-1 lead with 2 outs and 2 White Sox runners on in the top of the ninth when Ozzie Guillen hit a sinking line drive to right field which would likely have scored the tying run. Brunansky, however, raced over and made a spectacular sliding catch to end the game and send Boston to the playoffs.
At the end of the 1992 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in January of 1993. Brunansky struggled with the Brewers, batting just .183 with six home runs over 80 games that season.
He played only 16 games the following season before being traded back to the Red Sox on June 16, 1994. He put up decent power numbers in Boston, hitting 10 doubles and 10 home runs in 48 games, but otherwise continued to struggle, ultimately retiring in August.
In a 14-season career, Tom Brunansky batted .245 with 271 home runs. He averaged 24 home runs per 162 games.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: S
Slap Tag
A putout accomplished by an infielder who hits the baserunner with a gloved ball.
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
As most of you know, I am host of another podcast called Food Bank Radio. The show is for the Food Bank in Orange County California. As part of my job for the Food Bank I traveled to Sacramento last week for a meeting with the California Association of Food Banks. The meeting was to discuss the Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization with the Federal Government.
The meeting was attended by food banks throughout the State to discuss USDA funding for various childhood feeding programs. In attendance was a young lady from the national organization, Feeding America.
During a break she asked me if I was the person who hosted a podcast about baseball. She went on to tell me that her fiancé listens to this “baseball game”. His name is Timothy Grailer and they are getting married this coming July.
So, I would like to send this wedding greeting to Tim and —, and a wish for a long and happy married life.
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.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
