Timelessness
Memories are made of this, as Dino from Steubenville might say
(Because the States of Play subscriber base straddles readers in both the US and UK, folks in the UK who follow for the politics might not necessarily ‘get’ the baseball stuff that I write about midweek – but stick around for a slightly different sporting reference this time…)
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This week in 1938, Johnny Vander Meer – the ‘Dutch Master’ – accomplished something never before seen and never since equalled, when he threw two consecutive no-hitters.
The first was on Saturday June 11 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, when he threw the first Reds no-hitter since 1919 as they defeated the Boston Bees 3-0.
The second came four days later in New York in a 6-0 win against the Brooklyn Dodgers in what was the first night game at Ebbets Field under permanent lights. It was just Vander Meer’s 21st big league start.
Gregory H Wolf details the famous game in an essay for SABR, concluding:
“[B]edlam broke loose,” reported [Reds beat reporter Lou] Smith; fans rushed the field to celebrate Vander Meer’s feat. An overpowering Vander Meer overcame eight walks and yielded just five outfield fly outs to extend his hitless streak to 18⅓ innings and scoreless streak to 26 innings. (Those streaks eventually reached 21⅓ and 33 innings, respectively.)
“Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters are among baseball’s most romantic and mythologized accomplishments. They catapulted the 23-year-old pitcher into instant national stardom and intensified expectations of greatness, both of which took an enormous psychological toll on the pitcher.”
In a 1943 interview with Gabe Paul – revived here by John Thorn – Vander Meer said “It would seem natural for me to name the second successive no-hitter I pitched in 1938 as my biggest day in baseball, and I’ll have to explain why it isn’t.”
“I got off to a pretty good start in the season, pitching a shutout against the Giants at the Polo Grounds on May 20. I had my confidence. I felt I could do it. Then, all at once, came those consecutive no-hitters.
“But they came too fast. I was more confused than thrilled. All the publicity, the attention, the interviews, the photographs, were too much for me. They swept me off my feet too far to let me have time to think about the games themselves. There were too many people around me.
“As I look back at it now those days are the haziest period of my life — sort of like a dream.”
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After scaling the heights so young, a subsequent patchy 13-year career – with two seasons missed through military service – meant Vander Meer never made it to Baseball’s Hall of Fame, but he was inducted into the Reds’ HoF in 1958.
On this day in 1939, the living Hall of Famers came to Cooperstown to celebrate the official opening of the Museum.
“Since for 100 years this game has lived and thrived and spread all over our country and a large part of the world it is fitting that it should have a museum, a national museum,” said Major League Baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, at the beginning of the ceremony.
“I should like to dedicate this museum to all America. To lovers of good sportsmanship, healthy bodies, keen minds, for those are the principals of baseball. So it is to them, rather than to the few who have been honored here, that I propose to dedicate this shrine of sportsmanship.”
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It was my Dad’s funeral today.
To celebrate his life and our bond over sports, and football in particular (he would never call it ‘soccer’), here’s a small section of the eulogy I wrote for him:
“His memory had failed quite rapidly and in recent months when I went up to visit him at his nursing home it was never certain that he knew me, but he was always happy someone had come to see him.
“Each time I’d take him up a newspaper and we would look at the sports pages together, but recently I think the fortunes of his beloved Manchester United made even that a trial for him. His dementia meant he wasn’t aware that our two teams had met in the recent Europa final. And that was probably just as well.
“Joking aside, though, Dad’s love of football and for United was a constant – when he and my mother went to Blackpool for their honeymoon in 1959, it was partly so he could take her to Old Trafford.
“On Saturday the 12th September that year, United, who were still rebuilding after the Munich air crash, were up against – of course – Spurs, who were just a couple of seasons away from doing the double - incidentally in the year I was born.
“Spurs won 5-1 that day, and about 20 years ago, for one of their anniversaries, I went online and found the matchday programme for him. He appreciated the gesture, even though he thought I was trying to rub it in…”
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Thanks for your indulgence. You might also enjoy these posts:
Fathers Playing Catch With Sons
‘You Thought God Was An Architect’
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Another sad loss recently was that of long-time Baltimore Orioles writer and score-keeper Jim Henneman. He was also 89 when he passed a few weeks ago, the same age as my Dad.
The Orioles renamed the Press Box at Camden Yards after Henneman last year and his impact on the game will be long remembered.
I had the distinct honor to meet him just the once, a couple of years ago when he conducted a scoring clinic at the Babe Ruth Museum round the corner from the ballpark ahead of the O’s game against Cleveland. It was just perfect.
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Talking of having your workplace named after you, another Baltimore-area baseball legend is Bob Babb, who brought the curtain down on 46 years as coach of Johns Hopkins with the team winning another Centennial Conference and posting a 25-game winning streak.
Coach Babb appeared on WYPR’s Midday and spoke with Tom Hall yesterday. It’s a really nice interview.
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Finally – if you haven’t seen this, my only question is how??
A’s rookie center-fielder Denzel Clarke’s catch deserves all the hyperbole it’s been given since Monday.
Martin Gallegos wrote at MLB.com:
“Before the first game of each road series, Clarke goes to the outfield during batting practice and works on timing his steps from the warning track to the wall. This helps calculate the distance of space available whenever he needs to chase down a deep drive. Still, he does not truly get a sense for what he’s working with until he gets his first ball hit his way.
“I always say the first play in my first time playing a new ballpark is going to break the ice,” Clarke said. “Crazy play to break the ice.”
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As always, thanks for reading. I try to write a baseball-related column midweek and a politics wrap at the weekend. You’re welcome to join me for both.
You can find the full States of Play archive here.
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