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There have been hundreds of things that have found their way into baseball, and stayed a long time or forever, but it is often hard to nail down exactly when or why or how it happened for the first time.
I was wondering today when was the first time fans listening to a game were told not to rebroadcast it without express consent. Anybody know?
Grandstander referred the other day to Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker giving baseball's first High Five, in 1977.
I recently discovered that on July 12, 1952 in a game between Washington and the White Sox, Sam Dente tripped over Pete Runnels glove, which led to a rule that fielders were no longer able to leave their gloves on the field. Up to about 1950, gloves were flat, and sailed like a frisbee when you thew them, were about as thick as a rosin bag, and you had to catch the ball in the palm of your hand, using both hands, so gloves left on the field were not a problem. About that time, Harry Latina, at Rawlings, invented the folding glove with the big webbing between the thumb and the fingers, which created more of a hazard lying on the field.
Here's Dente's glove on his 1950 card: http://i20.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/4f/7d/c759_1_sbl.JPG (broken link)
I wonder what were the incidents, or perhaps series of incidents, which laid the foundations for the unwritten codes?
We know it is a crime to steal bases if you have a big lead in the late innings, but when was the first time this became an intolerable offense?
When was the first time that it was decided that an ongoing no hitter cannot be mentioned in the dugout? There must have been some incident somewhere long ago where a club came to believe that someone's mention of the no hitter caused it to be lost.
Has it always been the case that when any sort of fight breaks out on the field, the entire rosters of both clubs must rush to the infield and waltz around with one another while the umps and a few players pry the brawlers apart? In the 19th Century, a fight on the field led to an actual slugfest between teams, when did it evolve to today's tradition of faux combat for everyone save the guys who started the fight?
When was the first time that it was decided that an ongoing no hitter cannot be mentioned in the dugout?
Probably in the third inning on opening day in 1876, when somebody's no hitter got broken up after a player mentioned it.
The first to wear batting gloves is in dispute. There are four candidates:
Bobby Thomson, spring training in 1949.
Ted Williams batting practice 1953
Ken Harrelson, first in a game, 1964.
Rusty Staub, first to wear the golf gloves on a daily basis.
Today's Red Sox game has been rained out, and the make-up date was yesterday. Is this the first time a "postponed" game has ever been made up before the date it was originally scheduled for?
Today's Red Sox game has been rained out, and the make-up date was yesterday. Is this the first time a "postponed" game has ever been made up before the date it was originally scheduled for?
It was once taboo for a radio announcer to discuss an ongoing no-hitter because it might jinx the pitcher. Sometime during Red Barber's Dodger era (1939-53), he violated this taboo and received heavy criticism for it. Barber objected, "If I can control what happens on the field, I'm not being paid enough."
The first "expressed consent" reading could have occurred on August 5, 1921 when KDKA in Pittsburgh did the first live broadcast.
In two consecutive games, Furcal and Pujols both hit solo homers in the first inning. I bet that's the first time the same two hitters both hit solo homers in the first inning of two straight games. To add to the dejavuness of it all, the Cards then scored their next 4 runs on a grand slam, in both games.
Last edited by jtur88; 09-01-2011 at 02:47 PM..
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