FanNation - The Republic of Sport

By Bill Chuck

Join me as we a take a day-by-day retrospective of just some of wackier moments in baseball history in July:

July 1, 1990

We just had a losing no-hit effort, but the Angels hardly put forth the effort that the Yankees did on this date to not support Andy Hawkins against the White Sox. With two down in the bottom of the 8th‚ Sammy S*sa hit a bouncer to third, which Mike Blowers dropped. The scoreboard initially flashed that it was a hit, causing players and coaches in the Yankee dugout to wave wildly toward the press box. But the official scorer ruled the play an error. Hawkins then walked Ozzie Guillen and Lance Johnson, loading the bases. Hawkins then got Robin Ventura to hit a fly ball to left, but Jim Leyritz dropped the ball after it fell into his glove. Then Jesse Barfield lost Ivan Calderon’s fly ball in the sun and Hawkins was a 4-0 no-hit loser.

July 2, 2002

At Cincinnati‚ the Astros and Reds played the first inning with non-regulation baseballs‚ the result of a mix-up by an attendant in the umpires’ locker room. The attendant did not notice the word “practice” stenciled on the 144 balls he rubbed up for the game; the practice balls generally have defects such as irregular stitching or weight deviations. The umps ruled that both teams must have chance with the balls. Lance Berkman hit a regulation homer with the non-regulation balls.

July 3, 1960

Despite being scheduled to pitch the next day, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jim O’Toole gets married. The next day when O’Toole pitches and the Cubs pound him for 7 runs and 9 hits in less than 5 innings, annoyed Reds manager Hutchinson growls‚ “It was his turn to pitch. I didn’t tell him to get married.” O’Toole ends up with 11 kids.

July 4, 1985

What better way to celebrate July 4th than with baseball, beer and fireworks? This night in Atlanta, the Mets and Braves celebrated with baseball, rain and fireworks. The afternoon game started and after two innings suffered the first of two rain delays. No problem, the post-game fireworks will just be slightly delayed. The Mets had Jesse Orosco on in the 8th to protect a 7-4 lead, but he promptly surrendered four runs. In the 9th, the Mets tied the game and forced extra innings. No problem, the post-game fireworks will just be slightly delayed. The Mets took a 10-8 lead in the top of the 13th inning‚ only to watch the Braves tie it off lefty Tom Gorman in the bottom of the inning. No problem, the post-game fireworks will just be slightly delayed. In the top of the 18th the Mets scored a run to take an 11-10 lead, but with two outs in the bottom of the inning with two strikes on Braves pitcher Rick Camp, a career .074 hitter who was at the plate because the Braves had run out of position players, hits his only home run of his career and the game continued. No problem … In the 19th, the Mets scored five times and the Braves could only counter with two and after 6:10 of playing time the Mets win, 16-13 in 19 innings. The game ended at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th. At 4:01 A.M. the post-game fireworks display begins‚ causing local residents to think the city is under attack.

July 5, 1958

Why do baseball games continue to all hours of the night? Perhaps it’s because of tactics like those performed by the Yankees on this date in 1958. In those days there was a Saturday midnight curfew preventing games from going into the Sabbath. At 11:47 at Yankee Stadium that night‚ the Red Sox took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th. The rule was the inning must be completed by 11:59 or the game reverts back to the last completed inning. Tom Sturdivant came in to pitch in relief and walked to the mound from the bullpen at a “snails pace.” He then makes a feeble attempt at a grounder by Billy Klaus allowing the Red Sox to score another run making it 5-3. But then the 11:59 P.M. curfew was reached and the game reverted to a 3-3 tie to be replayed from the start.

July 6, 1922

The Red Sox and St. Louis Browns have a doubleheader scheduled for Fenway cancelled by Sox owner Harry Frazee for no apparent reason. Browns vice-president Walter Fritsch is quoted that Frazee did this so that the Browns will have to play three doubleheaders in three days and thus aid the Yankees‚ a team the Browns play on July 11 (as if Frazee hadn’t done enough for the Yankees selling them Babe Ruth). The rules will be changed at the winter meetings to put the decision to cancel games in the hands of the umpires rather than the owners.

July 7, 1993

Another July marathon in which the Phillies defeat the Dodgers‚ 7-6‚ in 20 innings. The game takes 6 hours and 10 minutes and concludes at 1:47 AM. The Phils Mitch Williams blew a 5-3 lead in the 9th‚ allowing a hit and walking 3 before being ejected. Afterwards‚ John Kruk said‚ “I came here and I wanted to kill Mitch‚ but they told me it was against the law.”

July 8, 2002

The Class A minor league Charleston Riverdogs put on a major promotion. On “Nobody Night” in Charleston, fans were barred from Joe Riley Stadium until after the 5th inning‚ at which time the attendance is officially recorded as ZERO.

July 9, 1953

What a wuss! The Phils’ starting pitcher Robin Roberts was relieved after giving up two runs in the 8th inning to the Brooklyn Dodgers. This broke Roberts streak of 28 consecutive complete games.

July 10, 1986

Long before Manny was Manny, Dennis was Oil Can. Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd was a tad upset about being left off the AL All-Star team. That evening he storms out of Fenway Park prior to Boston’s game against the Angels. He will be suspended indefinitely by the Red Sox and eventually scuffle with local police before checking into a hospital for psychiatric testing.