Baseball History -- November 3

Complete entry for November 3 at BaseballLibrar.com is HERE.

Highlighted entries:

1982
Pete Vuckovich becomes the Brewers' 2nd consecutive American League Cy Young Award winner, edging Jim Palmer. Vuckovich was 18-6 with a 3.34 ERA for the AL champions, and has the highest winning percentage in the majors for the past two seasons.

1981
Brewers Rollie Fingers (28 saves, 1.04 ERA) wins the American League Cy Young Award, collecting 22 of 28 possible first-place votes. The other six go to Oakland's Steve McCatty.

Steve McCatty? Really?

1953
The rules committee restores the 1939 rule, which says a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat. Also, the committee votes for "no gloves on the field rule." Hank Greenberg, who proposed the change, says "Aside from the possibility of hindering the play, gloves on the field look sloppy." The committee also makes a rule that any runner will be called out for deliberating running the bases backwards or even taking a lead off the base in the wrong direction. A new balk rule is instituted which gives the batter an option; if he gets a hit after a balk is called, he has the option of accepting the outcome of the pitch, instead of being limited to the advance of the runner(s). Rule suggestions rejected, as noted by Bob Timmerman, include: the legalization of the spitball, two bases for an intentional walk, and the option of declining ball four.

A pitcher probably suggested the spitball. A hitter probably suggested the declining ball four and the two bases for an intentional walk. What would Hank Greenberg think is sloppy in the major leagues these days?

1928
Voters in Cleveland approve a bond issue to build a giant municipal stadium near the lakefront to attract events for the 1932 Olympics.

Those 1932 Olympics in Cleveland were something else! Remember Babe Didrickson and Eddie Tolan and the pagentry of the games at Municipal Stadium? Right neither do I. Probably because of this fact:

1887
The directors of the Omaha club agree to pay $3,000 per month to manager Frank Selee to bring his team from Oshkosh, where they won the Northwestern League pennant in 1887. Two top stars, outfielders Tommy McCarthy and Dummy Hoy, will spend 1888 in the ML, however, and Selee's Omaha team will finish 4th in the WA race.

Is this bribery or just bad business by the folks in Omaha? This sounds like the end of Slap Shot. Reggie Dunlop says during the victory parade that he was offered a coaching job for the Minnesota Nighthawks and that he was bringing his guys with him. Slap SHot. Based in reality.