Dan Schlossberg - The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets, Lists, and Legends from Our National Pastime

Copyright 2002, 2017 by Dan Schlossberg

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Interior photos courtesy of the author, unless otherwise indicated.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credits: Tom Seaver: Courtesy of Dan Schlossberg

David Ortiz, Yankees, and Ken Griffey Jr.: AP Photos

Cy Young and baseball trio: Library of Congress

Print ISBN: 978-1-61321-835-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-836-5

Printed in China

To Jen, Ali, and Sam

The best JAS trio on the planet

In appreciation for all the love, laughter, and support

Through thick and thin.

Contents

Disputed origin, American founders, first teams and leagues, birth of the majors, labor relations, schedule changes

Rule changes through the years, home-run records, the designated

hitter, balks, famous rule violations, the rain rule, unusual postponements, forfeits

The basic job, all-time greats, umpiring teams, arguments, unusual decisions, tough calls, stances, recruiting, the umpire today

Keeping score, running and stealing, fielding and defensive strategy, hitting and bunting, strange home runs, pinch-hitters, playing the percentages, pitching, sign stealing, legal tricks, bench-jockeying

Uniforms, numbers, shoes, glasses, bats, balls, umpires equipment

Early parks, sites, home-run distances, famous old parks, modern stadiums, scoreboards, groundskeeping tricks

Sunday ball, night ball, weather, marathons, big scores, the war years, the color line, travel conditions, roommates, fines and fights, injuries, player size and sex, prolonged careers, stunts, benefits

Hank Aaron vs. Babe Ruth, awards, year and career leaders, famous families, two-sport stars, baseballs funny men

Hazards of managing, player/managers, great managers, modern managers, strategy, handling pitchers, coaches

The government of baseball, commissioners, team owners and executives

The art of trading, big deals, unusual transactions, interleague trading

Stadium announcers, organists, scoreboard operators, equipment managers, batboys, batting practice pitchers, mascots, wives, concessionaires, vendors, doctors, scouts

Writers, changing reporting styles, J. G. Taylor Spink, publicists, broadcasting, famous announcers, bloopers, home-run calls, the influence of television

Most memorable moments, pennant races, World Series highlights, All-Star Games

The origin of key phrases, famous quotes, baseball slang, team nicknames, player nicknames

Common superstitions, traditions, retired uniform numbers, holding out, the art of chewing, Opening Day, presidents at the ballpark, farewells, the Hall of Fame

Sites, accommodations, camps, on and off the field, training in war years, barnstorming home, the Cactus League, the Grapefruit League

The National Association, top teams of the minors, minor-league problems and changing map, playing conditions, famous minor-leaguers, major/minor relations, the Federal League, the Mexican League, Latin-American leagues, Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, baseball in Japan

Promotions and promoters, attendance records, field crowds, the advent of ushers, famous fans, cards and collectors

Franchise shifts, expansion, the amateur draft, labor unrest, the fall of the reserve clause, labor disputes, runaway salaries, how contracts have changed, why trading is tougher, player agents, major changes in baseball, modern record breakers, unusual achievements, interleague play, best of the century, millennial ball

Changing format, new heroes, no Miami Miracle, doubt vs. clout, model citizens, foreign affairs, seasons of surprises, financial foibles, tough teams

Foreword

My fans may argue about whether baseball is actually a sport or really just a way for me to implement every known prank or joke I could play on my teammates. Whichever you decide, baseball has been my life and I was blessed with enough talent to hang around for 22 years.

I am probably the only guy revered or feared by managers in eight different cities. My baseball travels started in 1966 with the Angels; after that I played with the White Sox, the As, the Phillies, the Yankees, the Padres, the Dodgers, the Cubs, and the Dodgers again. Somehow I managed to get four World Series rings and play on eight divisional titlewinning teams. Even when I played on losing teams, I always managed to make the guys laugh and have a good time.

Rooming with Jimmy Piersall and lockering next to Dean Chance and Bo Belinsky as a rookie got me off on the wrong footor should I say hotfoot? Bill Rigney, my first manager, explained the Piersall matchup by saying he didnt want to screw up two rooms. How did he know?

Piersall was a guy who would slide into a base and then squirt the umpire with a water gun. He gained national attention by trotting around the bases backward on his 100th home run. Piersall once hid behind the monuments in Yankee Stadiums center field when our pitcher was getting shelled. Jimmy said he had nine children to feed and didnt want to get hurt.

Danny Ozark, my manager in Philadelphia, spent a lot of time looking for me too. All he had to do was look in his office: I was always on the phone making some kind of deal. Tommy Lasorda knew that better than anyone. In Dodgertown, I once strung a rope from his hotel room door handle to a palm tree, making him miss breakfast before a three-hour spring-training bus trip. For a man who never missed a meal, that was a real trauma.

I really believe laughter is good for the soul. Just ask Ron Ceyhell tell you about how I cut his locker in half and made it into a doll-size locker, chair and all. I remember when Jerry Reuss and I dragged the infield at Dodger Stadium, Sparky Lyle sat on birthday cakes, Moe Drabowsky used the bullpen phone to call for takeout food, and Gaylord Perry drove hitters and umpires crazy by doctoring the ball so well nobody could catch him. And lets not forget Larry Bowa smashing the toilet in the Phillies dugout after striking out, Lou Piniella kicking his shoe over the fence after making an out, and Billy Russell not talking to me for a week after he made three errors in a game. He came to the park early the next morning to find that I had sandbagged and roped off the area behind first base where the fans sit so that no one would get hurt by his throws!

When Dan Schlossberg asked me to write the Foreword for this book, I jumped at the chance. Outside of my own best-selling books, Temporary Insanity , Over the Edge , and Some of My Best Friends Are Crazy , I have not found another volume that captures the lighter side of the game so well. Enjoying a good laugh and putting smiles on my teammates faces is important to me.

My caps off to Dan Schlossberg, a prolific baseball writer who shares that approach. He knows his stuff and this book proves it. He has a great sense of humor and never takes himself too seriously while still managing to cover all the bases.