BROOKLYN DODGERS "HALLS OF SHAME"
Remember When It Was A Game?
- Most outs made by a batter in 3 trips to the plate
( 7 outs: Burliegh Grimes, 1925 )
The job of Dodgers hurler Burleigh Grimes was to get outs--but for the other team, not his own. The batter's box turned into a house of horrors for Grimes during a September 22, 1995 game against the Chicago Cubs. He hit into (2) double plays, then into a triple killing to rack up a total of seven outs in just three at-bats. The frustrated hurler got a fourth shot at the plate later in the game. He made another out...but at least that time he didn't take anybody back to the bench with him. When the Dodgers lost, 3-2, Grimes had nobody to blame but himself.
- Most home consecutive home runs given up with the same ball
( 2 homers: Johnny Allen, 1943 )
No pitcher threw a more cursed ball than Johnny Allen. The Dodgers hurler gave up back-to-back homers--with the same ball! Allen was on the mound against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 30,1943, when the batter Phil Cavarretta whalloped the ball into a screen high above the right-field bleachers for a round-tripper. The ball carromed off the screen, so the umpire-in-chief left it in the game. Allen then fired the same ball to batter Bill Nicholson--who also pounded it over the wall for a homer. Since Nicholson's shot sailed out of the park, Allen was mercifully spared the chance of serving three straight home runs off the same ball. That was the last ball Allen ever threw for the Dodgers. He was traded to the New York Giants the very next day.
- Most runs kicked in by an outfielder
( 3 runs: Zack Wheat, 1916 )
Dodgers outfielder Zack Wheat booted the equivalent of a field goal in a September 1916 game against the Philadelphia Phillies--scoring three 'points'
when he kicked the ball into the stands. Unfortunately, the trio of runs went on the Phillies' side of the scoreboard--and Wheat's kick cost the Dodgers a game they should have won. Brooklyn was winning, 4-2, in the eighth inning when the Phillies rallied and put two men on base. That brought up dangerous hitter Gavvy "Cactus" Craveth. Craveth lashed a line drive straight toward Wheat. The outfielder raced in , expecting to catch the ball on the first bounce. But it hit a pebble and took a weird hop toward the toe of Wheat's right foot--just as his foot was swinging forward. To everyone's amazement, the impact sent the ball sailing backwards over Wheat's shoulder and into the bleachers behind him! The umpires ruled Craveth's hit a three-run homer.
- Most energy-conserving outfielder in major league history
( Heinie Manush: 1923 )
Heinie Manush was a man ahead of his time. Long before it became fashionable, he was conserving energy-- his own. During the dog days of summer, the left fielder took extra steps to save energy--by not taking steps. When his team came up to bat, and he wasn't scheduled to hit, he often didn't even return to the dugout. He would amble over to the left-field bleachers, open the gate, and sit down with the fans until it was time for him to take the field again. Why the hell should I walk 200-some feet to the dugout when the bleachers are right behind me?" he once told a reporter. Manush's energy-saving tactics paid off. He played 17 years in the majors, compiled a lifetime batting average of .330, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.
- Most home runs negated in a year by daydreaming
( 2 homers: Babe Herman, 1930 )
Because Dodgers flake Babe Herman didn't pay attention, his team had to pay the price. Two Brooklyn home runs were wiped out in 1930 thanks to Babe. In both cases, the batter was declared out for passing Herman on the base path--while Babe was dadling along with his head in the clouds, watching the ball fly overhead. On May 30th, Del Bissonette smashed a pitch over the wall and started racing aroiund the bases. Bissonette, looking forward to rousing congratulations at home plate, shot past the slow-moving Herman without even seeing him. Then, on September 15th, Glenn 'Buckshot" Wright hit an apparent homer with Herman on base. And once again, Herman dillydallied long enough to watch his teammate run past him. Years later, when reminded how his baserunning boners had negated two homers, Herman reportedly said, " I never could figure out what their hurry was."
- Longest home-run trot
( 5 minutes: Zach Wheat, 1926 )
A home-run trot by aging Dodgers outfielder, Zack Wheat turned in to a long, interrupted journey. With the St. Louis Cardinals leading, 9-5, in the bottom of the 10th innning at Ebbets Field in 1926, Zach stepped to the plate and slammed the ball over the right-field fence. But as he trotted toward second base, Zack's old legs--which had more mileage on them than a used car bought at Honest John's--suddenly gave out. He dropped to the ground next to the bag at second. The team trainer, the manager, and his teammates rushed out of the dugout and crowded silicitously around him. It appeared that he had severely pulled a muscle. Brooklyn manager Wilber Robinson suggested sending in a pinch runner. But the grizzled 18-year veteran refused. It was, after all, his home run and he was determined to finish rounding the bases. The game was delayed for nearly five minutes as Zack sat on second. Fianlly he struggled to his feet and , to the heartfelt cheers of the Brooklyn fans, he painfully hobbled home. It was the last home run Zack Wheat ever hit for the Dodgers.
- Longest throw by a base runner
( 230 feet: Eddie Stanky, 1944 )
Eddie Stanky made a dynamite throw on a double play. But there was one problem. He was the runner , not the fielder. In a 1944 game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn Dodgers held a slim 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning . With Bobby Bragan the runner on first, Stanky lashed a line drive to right field where Stan Musial made a spectacular, diving catch. Bragan, who was running on the play, was halfway to the third base when Musial caught the ball. So the right fielder got to his feet and threw toward first baseman Ray Sanders, hoping to double up Bragan. But Sanders never caught the ball. As the throw came into the infield, Stanky, who had rounded first, snared the toss with his bare hand and then, in digust fired the ball against the right field wall 230 feet away from where he stood. Umpire Larry Goetz called Bragan out anyway for Stanky's interference. Then he turned to Stanky and said, "Save those throws for when you take the field."
- Most runners on the same base at the same time
( 3 runners: Babe Herman, Chick Fewster, Dazzy Vance, 1926 )
In a scene that should have been in a Three Stooges flick, three Dodgers wound up on third base simaltaneously. The zany 'triple play" came after Brooklyn loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning of a 1-1 game against the Boston Braves in 1926. Hank DeBerry was on third, Dazzy Vance on second, and Chick Fewster on first base when batter Babe Herman blasted a drive to right field for a sure double and possible triple. DeBerry scores. But Vance waited on second until he saw the ball ricochet off the wall before he started plodding slowly toward third. By then Fewster was breathing down his neck--followed closely by Herman, who had already rounded second and was running with his head down. Coach Mickey O'Neill saw disaster looming and yelled at Herman, "Back! Back!"But Vance, who was headed toward home plate, thought the coach was talking to him. So he hurried back to third, arriving just as Fewster got there! A split-second later, Herman chugged into third to make it three on a bag. Fewster figured he was out and trotted off toward the dugout. Meanwhile, the ball had reached Braves third baseman Eddie Taylor--who tagged everybody he could reach. Then for good measure, second baseman Doc Gautreau snatched the ball, chased down Fewster, and tagged him, too! The umpires ruled vance was safe at third since he got there first. Fewster was out because he had been tagged and Herman was out for passing Fewster on the base path. Incredibly, Herman had doubled into a double play! Said disgusted Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson, " That's the first time those guys got together on anything all season."
- Most players whom an owner put on waivers at the same time
( 25 players: Larry MacPhail, 1941 )
Dodgers owner Larry MacPhail was so incensed that his team had lost the 1941 World Series that he obtained waivers on all 25 of his players in order to sell them to the St. Louis Browns. After the New York Yankees crushed the Dodgers four games to one in the Series, MacPhail wanted to get rid of his entire team and gave the Browns--then one of the worst teams in baseball--the opportunity to buy all his players. "We were waived out of the National League and sold to the Browns for $3 to $4 Million," recalled Pete Reiser. How did MacPhail get us out of the league? Everybody laughed and thought it was a joke. Time elapsed and we were waived--the whole club, lock, stock, and barrel. (Browns owner) Don Barnes started running around to the St. Louis banks to raise the money, 'What do you need the money for? he was asked. I'm buying the Dodgers ball club for St. Louis,' he answered. They just thought he was crazy." Fortunetely for Brooklyn fans--and players--cooler heads prevailed . The deal was never made.
- Earliest ejection of a catcher
( 10 minutes, Al Lopez, 1934 )
AL Lopez used a photo to prove foul-tempered umpire Bill Klem had blown a big call. But when the ump got the picture, the catcher got the thumb. As a result, Lopez was in the showers 10 minutes before the game even started! The disputed call came in a 1934 contest as the Dodgers' catcher tried to tag out a runner at home. " I knew I had the plate blocked, but then Klem called the guy safe." Lopez recalled."I came off the ground yelling my head off . Klem wouldn't listen. He just indicated the runner had slid in under the tag." But the next morning, much to Lopez's delight, a newspaper published a picture of that very play--- which clearly showed the catcher had made the tag. That afternoon, Klem strode to home plate to start the day's game and noticed the plate was covered with dirt. he took out his whisk broom, brushed it off-- and found himself staring at the newspaper photo taped to the plate. Klem furiously ripped the picture off the plate, thrust it under Lopez's nose, and belowed:" Yer outta here!" For Lopez, there was no Klemency.
- Most players on one team ejected in a game
( 15 players: 1951 )
They called it " The Boston Beef Party." During a late-season game with the Boston Braves in 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers put us such a beef with the umpire over a call that 15 of them were given the thumb. The Dodgers, desperately trying to hold on to first place in the final week of the season, were deadlocked, 3-3, with the Braves in Boston in the bottom of the eighth. Then came the critical play of the game. Umpire Frank Dascoli called the Braves' Bob Addis safe on a bang-bang play at the plate. Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella was outraged. He threw down his glove, wheeled around, and spewed a few choiice words at the ump. In a flash, Dascoli thumbed Campy out of the game. Then the catcher's teammates took up his fight with a verbal assault on the umpire. One by one, Dascoli ejected the Dodgers until there was no one left on the bench. The final toll: 15 players banished. After the game, which the Dodgers lost, 4-3, Dascoli had to be protected by a cordon of police as enraged Dodger Jackie Robinson tried to batter down the door of the umpires' dressing room. (he was fined $100 the next day by league president Ford Frick.)
- Most expensive pre-game toss
( $275, Duke Snider, 1958 )
Strong-armed outfielder Duke Snider bet a teammate he could throw a baseball out of the expansive Los Angeles Coliseum. But he injured his arm in the attempt was fined for being unable to play. Just before a game against the Chicago Cubs on April 23,1958, Snider and his Dodger teammate Don Zimmer got into a contest to see who could hurl a ball over the Coliseum's rim. It was no easy feat. The rim was 79 rows and 106 feet high. With $400 in side bets lined up, Snider hurled his first ball and came up short by only a few feet, to the 76th row. He wound up and threw again with all his might--and that's when the Duke overextended his right elbow and it went pop! Snider then confessed to Dodgers manager Walt Alston that he was in too much pain to play. Furious, Alston fined him one day's pay--$275--for his horseplay and sent him home. Although Zimmer didn't hurt himself, he was fined $25. Faced with a $275-a-day fine for every game he miissed, the Duke made a quick recovery and was back in the linup the very next day.
- Most games in which a player carried a rule book in his back pocket
( 1,572 games: Ivy Olson, 1911 )
Scrappy infielder Ivy Olson loved nothing better than a good argument with an umpire--and to prove his point in disputes, he always lugged a rule book in his back pocket. Ivy made umpires break out in a rash. At the screaming height of a squabble, he'd yank out his book and start flipping through the pages with an exaggerated flouish. But Ivy rarely had time to find the appropriate rule before the apopletic ump thumbed him out of the game. Ivy, whom arbiters nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible," carried his trusty rule book in every game for 14 years.
- Most years a fan blew up balloons in honor of a player
( 6 years: "Fierce" Jack Pierce, Ebbets Field, 1937-1942 )
Cheering for his baseball hero wasn't enough for Jack Pierce. He put on a blowhard tribute that included bursting balloons every time his idol came to the plate. As far as Pierce was concerned, Dodgers third baseman Cookie Lavegetto was the greatest player who ever lived. So beginning in 1937, when Cookie first joined the team, Pierce attended nearly every home game and performed the same wacky ritual each time. He always bought 10 box seats just behind the visitors' dugout so he had plenty of room. Then Pierce spread out a large blue-and gray- banner bearing the name COOKIE on top of the dugout. Next, he began furiously inflating a gross of "COOKIE" balloons with a hand bellows--screaming his hero's name over and over as he worked. As each balloon neared the bursting point, he'd yell one last "Coooookeeeee!" and then pop the balloon. Pierce also had a dozen helium-filled "Cookie" balloons delivered by cab to his seat at Ebbets Field. Whenever Cookie got a hit, Pierce would send up one of these special ballooons. Pierce's dazzling display cost him $40 to $50 a game, a lot of loot back then. Fortunately, he owned a prosperous Brooklyn restaurant and could afford it. Although Lavagetto went of to war after the 1941 season, Pierce continued his weird tribute for another year before his obsession with Cookie crumbled.
- Yuckiest Opening Day "pitch"
( The Tomato Tosser, Ebbets Field, 1937 )
The most memorable Opening Day pitch at Ebbets Field came not from a dignitary but a fan. And it wasn't a ball that was thrown, but a ripe tomato. The target was New York Giants leadoff man Dick Bartell. Dodgers fans had a longstanding hatred of Bartell. In 1933 he spiked Brooklyn first baseman Joe Judge and the next year he spiked shortstop Lonny Frey. In 1936 Bartell got into a wild fistfight with Dodgers picture Van Lingle Mungo. So when the 1937 season rolled around, one unknown fan plotted revenge. As Bartell stepped to the plate to start the game, the Ebbets Field fans booed loudly. Then Mungo, who was the Dodgers Opening Day picture, threw a fastball for a strike. Bartell stepped out of the batter's box. Suddenly a big soft tomato came whizzing down from the stands. it caught Bartell square in the chest and burst open. " That's our Opening Day pitch!" shouted one steamed fan. The stunned batter acted like he'd been shot--and he looked it, too, as the remains of the blood-red tomato ran down his uniform. The umpire called time so Bartell could run to the clubhouse and change shirts of his tomato pasting.
- Most fans who played musical instruments during a game
( 30,000 Ebbets Field, 1951 )
The Brooklyn Dodgers offered free admittance to anyone who brought a musical instrument to a July 1951 game. It proved a great night for music lovers--to stay home! The big-band sound was never more horrible than the Dodgers' "Musical Unappreciation Night." when about 30,000 fans blasted out "songs" which set music back fifty years. The fans brought every imaginable instrument including kazoos, harmonicas and drums. Incredibly, two people even showed up with pianos! "What a night for music" exulted Dodgers publicist Irving Rudd." The weird noises unleashed by the capacity crowd of roof-raisers must have traumatized music lovers for miles around."
- Most fans who took a team's promotional giveaway and then didn't stay for the game
( 500 fans: Ebbets Field, 1946 )
One day in 1946, the Brooklyn Dodgers' brass decided they had just the ticket to boost attendance on Ladies Day. the team announced that 500 pairs of nylon hose would be given away to female fans who attended the next game. Since nylon stockings were difficult to buy in those post-World War II days, team officials figured lots of ladies would jump at the chance to get a pair of hose. Did they ever! A screaming mob of 2,434 gals came storming into Ebbets Field--most of whom wouldn't have known a baseball from a basketball. But to the Dodgers' dismay, most of the 500 women who were given the stockings promptly turned on their pretty heels and went home. So did many of the other 1,934 gals who missed out on the hose and left empty-legged.
- Most games played with yellow balls
( 4 games, 1938, 1939 )
Baseball's rule book specifies that only a "white horsehide" ball can be used in the major leagues. But the Dodgers played four games in the 1930's using baseballs that looked like they'd contracted a bad case of jaundice. Brooklyn's general manager, Larry MacPhail, came up with the idea of trying a different color ball. He suggested dandelion yellow. On August 2, 1938, the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals became the first teams to give the new colored ball a shot. Brooklyn won, 6-2, at Ebbets Field. In 1939 the yellow ball was used in three more Dodgers games, two against the Cardinals (which St. Louis won, 12-0 and 5-2), and one against the Chicago Cubs(whcih Brooklyn won, 10-4). After those games, the sickly looking yellow ball was never used again in a major league game, although Charles O. FInley had his Oakland Athletics play with orange baseballs in some spring trainig games in 1973.
- Greatest distance from the dugout that a player was forced to sit because he smelled so bad
( 10 feet: Casey Stengel, 1912 )
A close encounter with a smelley pig got Casey Stengel kicked off his own team's bench for an entire game. Right after Stengel joined the Dodgers in 1912, the team went to New Jersey for an exhibition game. Before the game, players were invited to participate in a contest that paid $50 to the first person who could catch a pig smeared with foul-smelling axle grease. Stengel--looking to make some quick money--enthusiastically joined in. Casey chased the slick porker, wrestled it to the ground, and wrapped himself around the squealing critter until the judges declared him the winner. Elated, Stengel hustled to the bench $50 richer and stinking uniform and roared: Pee-yew!" They wouldn't let him near them. So Stengel was forced to sit on the ground 10 feet away from the dugout for the whole game. Mighty Casey had stunk out.
- Most home runs hit off a laundry building in one game
( 3 home runs, Roy Campanella, 1950 )
Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella had a spotless day at the plate by blasting three towering homers that all hit a laundry building across the street. In a 1950 game against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, Campy reamed, steamed, and dry-cleaned the pitches of Cincy hurler Ken Raffensberger. In the second inning, Campanella belted a two-run shot that sailed over the laundry building more than 400 feet away. Two innings later, Campy socked another two-run homer to the very same spot. Raffensberger walked the Dodgers catcher in the sixth. But in the eighth, Campanella clouted his third two-run round-tripper of the day. The drive soared out of the park and struck the side of the laudry on one bounce. In leading his team to a 7-5 victory, Campanella had put Raffensberger through the wringer, and hung him out to dry.
- Biggest salary cut after winning the batting title
( $1,000, Frank "Lefty" O'Doul, 1932 )
After Lefty O'Doul led all hitters in the National League with a sizzling .368 average in 1932, the Dodgers's management decided to adjust his salary--they slashed his pay from $9,000 to $8,000. Not that the Dodgers didn't appreciate his efforts. Poor Lefty just happened to be a man born ahead of his time. If he'd won the batting title today, the hard-hitting outfielder would have received a huge pay boost and been a millionaire. However, Lefty was playing back in 1932. When the country was in the grip of a growing depression and money was a tight as the webbing of a new glove. Even with the salary cut, the Dodgers found O'Doul was just too expensive to keep around . Early the next season, O'Doul had hit over .300 for five stright years, was traded to the New York Giants.
- Most bases allowed a runner while holding the ball
( 3 bases: Zack Taylor, 1923 )
Dodgers catcher Zack Taylor was throwing a temper tantrum and holding a ball instead of holding his temper and throwing the ball. As a result, the boiling mad backstop allowed a runner to score all the way from first base. In the second inning of a September 8, 1923, game with Boston, the Braves had runners Stuffy McInnis on third and Hod Ford on second with Bob Smith at the plate. Smith swatted a single, scoring McInnis and Ford. But Taylor began furiously arguing with umpire Hank O'Day that Ford had run out of the base path. While the squabble raged on, Smith dashed from first to second. Seeing that Taylor's back still was turned, he then raced to third. And as the hot-headed catcher continued to berate the ump, Smith came romping across the plate. Taylor's right of free speech had given Boston a free run.
Source: The Baseball's Hall of Shames by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo
( Macmillan Company, 1991)
( A truly wonderful book filled with outrageous but true episodes)
Brooklyn Dodger page
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