Eddie Grant was probably the best MLB player to ever come from Harvard, and was even called “Harvard Eddie” during his career. Sadly, both his life and his career were cut short when he died during World War I.
(Picture from the Library of Congress Flickr Feed)
Just in time for March Madness, here’s a weird connection between hoops and Major League Baseball.
To be more specific, one year (1996), the Philadelphia 76ers drafted two college basketball stars who eventually made the rosters of Major League Baseball teams:
In case you can’t see it, that is Mark Hendrickson and Ryan Minor being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, drafted one right after the other. Minor- who’s main claim to fame was starting at third the day that Cal Ripken‘s streak ended- went straight to baseball, but Hendrickson- who has been pitching in camp for the Orioles this spring- had a brief NBA career (go below the jump for the stats):
From 1902 to 1911, the Cincinnati Reds played in the “Palace of the Fans”. But, as other stadiums became more advanced and less susceptible to fire, the Reds decided to just trash the Palace and build a new stadium (what would eventually be Crosley Field) on the same spot.
This photo, from the Library of Congress Flickr feed, is of what was left of the Palace of the Fans after it’s demolition.
This photo, from the Library of Congress, shows fans at the 1914 World Series in Shibe Park, Philadelphia.
The Dominican Republic can lay claim to being the champions of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, going undefeated in the tournament and shutting out Puerto Rico in the final game, 3-0. Robinson Cano was rightfully named tourney MVP, although one could also have made a case for Fernando Rodney, who saved seven games during the tournament.
While it was far from a perfect tournament, it had some great moments. There were the honkbal Dutch, proving that 2009 was far from a fluke by making it to the semi-finals, defeating the mighty Cubans twice on the way. There was Italy’s similarly amazing run. There were the great fans, who even in the less-attended games made the crowd seem several times bigger. And it had high drama, with Davids facing Goliaths, the old facing the young, and, in some cases, entire nations sitting on the edge of their seats.
And, yes, all of my reasons while the WBC is going to be sticking around are still valid.
Still, the WBC does definitely have room for improvement, so go below the jump for some of my suggestions:
Much of baseball’s spread in the Caribbean was at least partially because of the United States’ increased presence in the region after the Spanish-American War. And that war, at least officially, was started because of the destruction of the USS Maine. While it was later found that it was unlikely that the Maine had been destroyed due to sabotage, the destruction of the ship started a rallying cry amongst the American populace that helped lead to the war.
But, before that, the Maine was the defending champion of the Navy when it came to baseball. Here’s a photo from the Library of Congress Flickr stream of that final team- most of the players died in the ship’s destruction. Notice how it was an integrated team.
It’s all come down to this: Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico for the WBC title. The Dominican is going for a perfect tournament, but Puerto Rico, with a win, could make all those previous games for the Dominican irrelevant. It’s one game, winner take all. Go below the jump for the tale of the tape:
I was so sure that Japan was going to beat Puerto Rico that I had been planning on having this photo of the 1913-14 World Tour players from the White Sox and Giants with members of Japan’s Keio University… whoops. Oh well, still an interesting picture, with John McGraw, Tris Speaker, Jim Thorpe, Sam Crawford and Buck Weaver in it. So, from the Library of Congress Flickr feed, here is the photo:
If anybody in Japan would like to blame their team’s loss on my blog (I mean, between this and yesterday’s article on how Pokémon had an episode that seeped with Japanese baseball references, I seemed to have been tempting fate), go ahead.
It’s a showdown tonight, a grudge match four years in the making. In one corner, the mighty Dominican, now by far the biggest fish in the increasingly small WBC pond. In the other corner, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the upstart amalgamation of the Netherlands, Curacao and Aruba. Four years ago, the Dutch upset the Dominican twice, and now the Dominican has a chance for revenge. They probably will get it, but as we saw in Puerto Rico-Japan (and Puerto Rico-USA, and Netherlands-Cuba, and… you get the idea), there are no guarantees in baseball.
Go below the jump for the tale of the tape:
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
In a first for Bizarre Baseball Culture, we’re going international to look at one of the more strange appearances of baseball in Japanese culture. To be more exact, we’re looking at an old episode of the Pokémon anime, entitled “The Double Trouble Header”.
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Okay, are you done laughing/rolling your eyes? Good. Now go below the jump for this installment, which has been weeks in the making:
The Baseball Continuum 