November 14, 2024 • 41 mins
We've been going through a bit of a sports phase here on Ridiculous History, and of course we can't talk sports without talking baseball. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into some of the strangest weather events to ever grace -- or curse -- an otherwise ordinary game of ball. Note - we don't talk about just how many people got struck by lightning on the field, but... there are a lot.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:28):
Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
Let's hear it for the number one Mickey Mantle of
Ridiculous History, our super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
M Ken Griffy Junior, Rookie Card of Podcasting, Mister Max Williams,
the third Esquire.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Ooh, that was good.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Some of that I thought was gonna be really lame,
but it was actually really cool. A few weeks back, Ken,
Griffy Senior and Junior were at the Lakers game because
it was the opening opening night and it was the
first game that Lebron was gonna play with his son,
and I was thinking, I was thinking, oh, it's gonna
be kind of lame, but that was actually cool to
think about. It's like, how often in sports do you
(01:09):
see a father and son play together. There's the amazing
clip of like it's like Senior Crank Giffrey Seniors in
left field. He's gonna get a ball and Griffy Junior
jogs right in front of it and takes.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It from him.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Ah, it's a family affair. The student has become the teacher.
Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You love to see it. You love to see it.
We also love to see our man himself in the
digital flesh. Folks, it's mister Noel Brown. Hello, Hello, Hello Ben,
you're Ben Bollen here. I've been going by that one
for a minute. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I think it's a good one. I think you should
stick with it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I like the alliteration on it. No one checked me, accustoms.
I was thinking in preparation for this episode and in Sports.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Week a sports half a month on ridiculous Story.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
We've been going through a spot for sure. I are
a phase. I was thinking about the coolest part of
seeing a live baseball game.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Now, Max hot dogs what it is?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
That's the answer at his dancewer Max, of course, is
our our expert sport two out of the three of us, folks.
We know that a lot of us in the crowd
today are big, big sports fans, uh. And if you
have ever had the opportunity to go to a live
(02:40):
baseball game, you will feel that electric energy. Like Noel,
I love the snacks as well. I love the cracker jacks,
you know, with the prize at the bottom.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
The peanuts and the Cracker Jacks. Yeah, there's a whole
song about it.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Sure, And we're we're talking about baseball today, and I'm like,
apple pie, baseball is a uniquely American thing.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Nice. That's a callback, folks. Nice. Nice.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We have the immense pleasure of exploring baseball today with you.
I would like to ask you, guys, and I know
I'm sort of stacking the scales here, but I'd love
to ask you guys about the last baseball game you
remember being at in person with my mom and my kid.
(03:36):
The one that I remember most distinctly was when they
have like father Daughter Day at Brave Stadium and we
got to walk the bases and they give out all
kinds of daddy daughter like merch and there was like,
you know, it's pink Brave shirts and stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
But it was cool.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's cool to get to go down on the field.
And then I went to another one where remember the
rap artist to quote rap artist Flow Ryder, Yes, yeah,
he performed. They were doing a series at Brings Stadium
years ago where they would have like a different band
play after at the end of the game on the
on the field.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
So my most recent baseball game was actually not for
our Atlanta team, but for one of the biggest rivals
of Atlanta. I was in a New York City earlier
this year for.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
The NBA Draft.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
The Alanta Hawks won the draft lottery, so I met
a couple of friends flew in there for that. We're
there and we wanted to go see a Yankees game,
but unfortunately Yankees were just gone. They were on the
road that week, so we settled for the runner up
baseball team in New York. Of course, the New York Mets.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, who you know, See I know a thing or
two about sport.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are you doing that Yankee Mets thing?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
You have no right? You have no right, Max, You're
not from there.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
They're the runner up and just in general. Actually, when
I was at dinner, we went at dinner beforehand and
like one of the one of the waiters recognized this
road away shirt out was wearing, and we talked about it.
Here's the Yankees fan. And what I found out is
like Yankees fans and Nick fans are actually pretty cool,
but like the backup teams in New York, their fans
kind of suck. They're the fans that suck. Like the
(05:07):
main team fans are actually pretty cool. Like I like
Yankees fans, I like Knicks fans now. But anyways, to digress,
yeah uh not. Shea stadium was really beautiful ballparks. The
tallest ballpark I've ever been was very tall. It was
right underneath La Guardia, Like there's planes flying over you
at all points. But it was a beautiful ballpark and
it was a the Mets won a big game. It
(05:28):
was right after Grimace Mania had started. I don't I
don't know if you guys know about the whole Grimace
Mets grim shake. There was Grimace threw a first pitch
out of a Mets game this year and the season
was going to trash. Then the Mets ended up making
all the way to the NLCS.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
They credit Grimace for this stroke of good luck.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It was like a celebrity thing, so like at one
point they're going around, you know, it's New York. Similarly,
can they do this at the Lakers games in LA
where they just show the celebrities throughout the game and
they're going around and at the very end they had Grimace,
who it was like a standing ovation entire state and
going wild to Grimace and I'm like, I'm all, I'm
all four this is this is actually pretty cool right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Here, Grimace, the McDonald's purple mascot monstrosity who you hipped
us to the fact, is historically actually meant to be
a depiction of a giant anthropomorphic taste bud.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yes, well that's the running theory. Please check out our
series I Know What Happened to the McDonald's Mascots. Also
a quick shout out for all the Mets fans in
New York and surrounding areas.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You guys knew.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I think Noel and I go up to New York
at different times on a fairly regular basis, sometimes at
the same time. Sometimes yeah, when the stars align. And
I was I was hanging out in New York, just
kicking it with cool folks and a buddy of mine.
We were standing on the street and some guy walked
(06:56):
up to him and started beat me here man ching
about the Mets game. And then the guy immediately launched
into an in depth conversation about statistics, the past, the future,
and the present. And then they fist bumped and the
other dude left and I said, oh, you know that guy,
(07:19):
is he going to go with us to this comedy show?
And he said no, I don't know him. It's just
the Mets are for the undergrad.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We're brothers in sport.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
That said something I saw so much in New York.
We're walking around with our Hawks here all the time,
and I think, you know, a Hawks fan is something
that people don't believe exists in what in the wild,
Like it's pretty rare. Everyone's like, whoa, they're actually are
Hawks fans. But I would see people and like, they're
so busy you tell it. They have like this deadline
and they're booking it, and they stop and they talk
sports with you for fifteen minutes. It's just part of
(07:48):
the culture. And I really appreciate it. Was awesome sports.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
As you fire.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It was about to say, I do sort of, you know,
feel a little bit of fomo about that kind of
camaraderie aspect of it, because I just is not my world.
But I'm learning a lot this week on ridiculous history.
Just pick like baseball. My team will be the Mets now.
I don't know, but we are talking about baseball today
(08:13):
and weather.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
In fact, yes, the weather. How dare anyone be a
fair weather fan? Which is a pretty big insult.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
You ever heard that? One?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Of course, I always call myself a fair weather gamer,
which I think is okay. I enjoy it, but I'm
not obsessed about it, and I don't know all the stats.
I'm not what you would call it a twitch streamer
or anything of that nature. But here's the thing about
weather as it pertains to baseball. It is one of
the sports that is typically played out of doors, and usually,
(08:53):
you know, a football oftentimes will be in like a
covered stadium. But according to the MLB schedule grid in
twenty twenty four, there are thirty seven games that were
either postponed, suspended, or canceled due to rain delays that
is in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Alone, or weather delays in general. But I think exactly,
if you've ever had the privilege of living in a
town that has a baseball stadium, then you will naturally
at some point encounter a weather delay, or the whole
enterprise may get rained out, and it turns the stadium
(09:31):
into a weird liminal space. It's like being stranded at
an airport. And we have a story about that for
a different day. Today's episode, which may indeed turn into
a series, is about the strange interaction between weather and baseball.
(09:52):
This is where we get to the concept of something
being mostly outdoors aka the domed Stadium's right.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We did mention at the top that baseball is typically
played out of doors typically, but there are some outlier
type situations, and that is largely because of this thing
called a domed stadium, which has become popular in colder
or higher rainfall areas of the country because of its
ability to kind of take weather out of the equation.
(10:24):
The kind of commonality is the retractable dome stadium, which
is sort of an indoor outdoor situation.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. The idea is that, depending on
the current environmental conditions, the top of this stadium, this
thing we call the dome, can retract or extend right,
further shielding the players and the audience to be honest,
(10:58):
from the inclement weather. But in the early days of
this concept, the stadium would have an entire dome over it.
It would be an indoor.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Stadium, a fixed dome. Right there we go.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's talk about the astrodome with some
help from our pal Rick over at the Society for
American Baseball Research also known as SABER.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That's right, Rick Schabowski. He talks about a rain now
in the astrodome. How is this even possible? It's domed,
protected from the elements. The Houston Astros don't even have
the traditional rain check printed on their tickets. That's where
that term comes from. Yet on Tuesday, June fifteenth of
nineteen seventy six, the supposedly impossible happened. A game between
(11:52):
the Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates was postponed because of rain. Ben,
how how did this happen?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I'm so glad you and I'm over the moon over
the dome that our research associate Max has helped us
out with the answer, As Rick says, the day of
the game, a powerful thunderstorm developed over the Houston area
and was caused by humid, unstable atmospheric conditions along the
(12:20):
Gulf Coast. These combined with a cold front extending from
the Gulf all the way through Central Texas. It was
similar to a tropical storm. Lots of rain that just
kept coming down. Got to the point where you couldn't
reach the Astrodome because the streets were flooding. Fans couldn't
(12:45):
get to the stadium. The staff working the astrodome, the
folks who sell you those Cracker Jackson hot Dogs, they
couldn't get there either.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, that's because the stadium itself was actually forty five
feet below ground level, So all of the lower ramps
and entrances you know, into the stadium would have been
absolutely impassable because of the flooding. So Schabowski poses the question,
I think is on all of our minds, how did
the players manage to arrive for the game without major issues?
And he goes on to quote the Astros historian Acosta,
(13:18):
who said that players started arriving around one PM, when
it was still possible to get to the stadium. They
had to be dressed by three or three point thirty.
The Pirates team bus made it through, as did the
Astros coming by themselves.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, and that again is Astro's team historian, Mike Acosta.
It's true, folks, you can have an entire career as
the historian of a single sports team, you know, and
in some cases a historian for a single individual in
(13:52):
the world of sports. Shout out to everybody right in
their dissertation on Kobe or Tiger as we speak, so
as like you nailed it. As the game is approaching,
the weather is approaching as well. The Pirates and the
Astros get into the venue in just enough time, but
(14:16):
the weather is churning. And this is where we go
to the management of these teams, especially a guy named
tal Smith.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it's up to him to kind of make the
call to assess the situation, and he decided that it
would be probably the smart move to postpone the game
because of concern for fans and employees' safety, not to
mention the players themselves. So at five PM it was
announced that the game would be postponed essentially due to
(14:49):
a rain delay situation, because it was so heavy and
it wasn't showing any signs of slowing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Oh nice, Is that a Willy Wonka reference? It asked
to be, so, all right, So here's what happens. The
local news is reporting this, and a lot of people
are obviously aware of the weather and concerned, and the
streets are flooding. People can't make it to the game.
(15:18):
A local TV reporter quote a spokesman for the Astros
who says, this wasn't exactly a rain out, it was
a rain in. We do have This is my favorite
part of the story, though, This is the coolest part
some fans are so die hard that they did make
(15:40):
it to the stadium, and when they did, it was
only about twenty of them. When they did, the Astros
felt so bad that they said, all right, you know,
we're not going anywhere, you guys.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Let's I'm stuck. I mean, the players aren't. Yeah, you're right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Let's just grab some nah, you know, let's all have
dinner together. And so they went to the stadium cafeteria
except for the players. The actual baseball players eight on
the field because it was covered and not flooding exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
You know, this reminds me of like there's that I
think it's in.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The first season of The Sopranos where there's a huge
storm in Jersey, you know, where the Soprano family lives,
and everyone kind of all the main characters end up
at Ardi Buco's restaurant.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Who's the He has gas so.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
He can make them their linguini or whatever, and it
becomes this like really lovely kind of family, like you know,
coda for the first season of The Sopranos, And so.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
An indoor stadium got rained out. If we go to
infielder for the Astros at the time, Rob Andrews. He says,
even on the next morning, things were far from normal.
The drive home was surreal. No one was on the road.
As I got on the Interstate by the Dome, I
(17:00):
had to weave through abandoned cars left right where they
stole the night before. I couldn't shake the feeling I
was in some kind of world ending disaster flick.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I think some of us here in Atlanta, I've experienced
similar things with the Snowmageddon that that plagued nur Fair
City a handful of years ago. Pretty wild, very post
apocalyptic vibes. Well, let's move on to another story of
whether postponing these sort of end all be all of
baseball events.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
The World Series.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yes, yes, the World Series, which again I hold is
an unfair and inaccurate name.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
That's true. We talked about that on a recent episode.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Why are you guys so scared of the Hanshin Tigers, Yeah,
pointing out.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
That Japan one to twenty twenty three World Baseball Classic
of all the United States ever won one.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
But you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
But there have been throughout the history of this series
multiple games that have had to contend with let's just
call them kind of odd weather anomalies.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, let's go back to nineteen seventy nine, to the
Grand Metropolis of Pittsburgh. The only game in all of
World Series history that was canceled due to snow was
the first game of the nineteen seventy nine Fall Classic
between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Max. Don't put a boo
(18:35):
here the Baltimore Orioles.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I love the Baltimore Oorls. They're all my favorite teams.
Oh no, well, don't put a boo, then don't. There's
no need, no no boo, no boo required.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And we're getting a lot of this from Mark Poleo
writing for Aci Weather. Noel, do we have the details
on how snow froze out the World Series?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
We do.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Game one was supposed to take placed on a Tuesday,
October ninth, but was postponed an entire day due to
snow and freezing rain conditions in Baltimore. When it finally
did take place the very next day, the first pitch
temperature was the coldest in history, that is until nineteen
ninety seven, when World Series Game four broke that record.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Rain, however, fell throughout Game one.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It definitely reaked some havoc on the precision of the players.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Let's just say and for reference.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
World Series Game four in nineteen ninety seven was between
the Florida Marlins and the Guardians from Cleveland, who were
going under a different name at the.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Time, exactly, and the rain caused six total errors between
the two different teams. Game three also was plagued by
rain delays, a sixty seven minute rain delay. However, the
series was ultimately won in seven games the Pirates.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yeah, this feels a little bit like trench warfare. I
don't think the players were having the best time ever.
It was super cold. They had a wintry mix, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I hate a winter remix. It's kind of a bummer.
If you think about it, You're like, this is like
the biggest moment of your life for some of these players,
and it's an absolute, you know, crapstorm.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Literally not fun, and a winter remix is all the
worst parts about cold weather and none of the cool
fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, like snow baseball sounds like it could potentially be
fun snowball, not winter remix baseball.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So you can look at an article from The New
York Times that gives step by step blows of just
how messy this initial postponement was, this back and forth,
and of course are good friends at SABER come in
to outline just how difficult the conditions were during all
(21:02):
seven games, especially Game three. And you're absolutely right, Noel,
it was not an ideal weather condition. But that's why
we play baseball outside.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, with that in mind, why don't we stick around
the Burgh that is pitts It's Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Let's go, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Let's go back just a couple more decades in history
and find an even more ridiculous example of weather absolutely
greaking havoc with a World Series.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, yes, yes, all right. The final game of the
World Series in nineteen twenty five was between the Washington
Senators and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is considered one of
the weirdest final I know you don't like the word
one of the oddest final games in all of Major
(21:57):
League Baseball history.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Oh sure, I like weird. No, I get what you're
putting down.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Then yeah, I gotta say though, a battle between Senators
and Pirates classics seems like a no brainer. The Pirates
are gonna win. Senators are a bunch of squares. Pirates
have swords and grappling hooks and eye patches. Yeah, they
also have a Senators have notebooks ties.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I mean hopefully some sort of moral compass.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
I walk down the street for that one.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But but yeah, the Pirates also historically will have parkour
of some sort, right, the sailors parker, which you know
they don't know all kinds of knots. Yeah, super into knots,
those guys. Over forty two thousand fans watched the Pirates
try to succeed against a big deal pitcher for the
(22:53):
Washington Senators, a guy named Walter Johnson.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
The Senators had a secret weapon and they they sure do.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
That was like, this guy is their cutless, their sailor's parkour,
all the stuff you gem at once.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
All world end a one.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, yeah, he's super good at pitching. It's like Walter's
main thing. The only problem is that for these thousands
of fans, they cannot see the game because there is
thick fog and heavy rain, so they're they're just cheering
off vibes.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, you know what, there's nothing wrong with vibes based activities.
We fully support that here on ridiculous history and on
stuff they don't want you to know. And then the
reason they had to resort to vibe checks is because
of a thick fog that had descended onto the event,
which I'm sorry, I'm sticking with my pirates theme here.
(23:50):
It makes me think of the John Carpenter movie The Fog,
about ghost pirates emerging from the fog. It sounds like
a real spooky situation there, heavy rain and thick fog.
Writers in the press box couldn't even follow the action
on the field.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Dude, the guy at the outfield couldn't see the infield.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You're talking about Goose Goslin. That's not a real person.
Goose Goslin.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
That's incredible. He's the both the goose and the is
also the gander. I'm sorry, I'm blown away by this name.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
He's the goose for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yet we also see a journalist from the New York Times,
a guy named James Harrison, who was at the scene
and described the infield as a quote grave of mud.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
It was like Woodstock ninety four during the nine inch
Nails set. Yeah, absolute mud, people.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So there was a weather related controversy that you know
how it is when you feel like the authorities at
a sporting event make the wrong hole. The fans are
super pissed.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, and they can't see much better, So everyone's running
off vibes, and the vibes are starting to get nasty.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Tell us what happened.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, So in the eighth inning, Keiki Koyler, it was
a big deal on the Pirates. He hit a double
what's called a ground rule double, scoring the Again, some
of these turves are not in my lexicon, but the
go ahead runs, Max, tell us what a ground rule
double and go ahead runs are.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
The ground rule double is when you hit a double
that bounces out of play. So instead of people just
being able to run because it's out of play, they
just give you second base. Go ahead runs. You go aheadhead.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I see, you just wave them on through you.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
To go ahead runs, like you're like, you know, it's
a six to six game. You score a run. You
get that run right there, the one that made seven
to six, it's a go ahead runs.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You went ahead.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, so this is bad news for the Senators. This
is great news for the Pirates. But our buddy, this
senator from the outfield, Goose, uh.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
The Honorable Senator Goose Goslin right from the outfield.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Funny he actually did serve two terms in the US Senate.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, he did not look up. Yeah, no one. I
believe you. I believed you mean rascal. Hey, I believe
in you. Guys. Max. I'm sorry I called you that
horrible name. I didn't mean it.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
So the I think a team called the Rascals would
be cool.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So the issue is the umpires also cannot be authorities
at this point, and the Honorable Senator from the outfield,
Goose says to reporters later, look, these umpires couldn't see it.
Referring to the play. It was too dark and foggy.
It wasn't fair at all. It was not a ground
(26:48):
rule double. It was foul by two feet. I know
because the ball hit the mud and stuck there. Going
back to the earlier grave.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Of mud comment, Ben, this is literally a fog of
war types that suation is.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I love that you pointed that out. I didn't even
think about that. So it's it's true that the weather
got in front of the game and top of on front,
on top of Yes, you guys noticed, I stopped saying
under the weather and I started saying, the weather is
on top of people. I clocked it, Ben, no, you
(27:23):
clocked it. And let's end today's exploration with the story
of Red Murray.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Little Red Murray.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Let's go back to the good old days of the
MLB Major League Baseball and talk about how Weather might
have played a significant.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Role in providing one.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Of the most I guess remarkable and kind of beautiful
moments in baseball history. Jay Guphro And another excellent name,
Dan Bonk. That's not nominal conterminism. I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
That also sounds like a crime in a different language.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Dan Bonk, writing for SABER again, the Society for American
Baseball Research, he had this to say. This took place
at forbes Field, he said. While forbes Field had its
share of legendary home runs Masarowski's nineteen sixty Game seven
World Series clout and Babe Ruth's final three, the old
(28:32):
park was the scene of some memorable defensive moments as well,
unassisted triple plays by Pirate shortstop Glenn Wright on May seventh,
nineteen twenty five, and Cub shortstop Jimmy Cooney on May thirtieth,
nineteen twenty seven, and the bare handed catch made by
New York Giant right fielder Red Murray on August sixteenth,
(28:54):
nineteen oh nine. Not an actual giant, a member of
the team known as the New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
A giant in our hearts indeed. And also this leads
us to an interesting side note about when people were
allowed to use gloves for a time, just so everybody knows,
in the early days of baseball, it was considered unsportsmanlike
(29:21):
to use a mit.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Interesting think about cricket. They don't use meths and cricket, Well.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
That's because they're real men. How does cricket work? What
is what is a wake?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Right there?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
I know in concept how cricket works, but I have
you watched it.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I've tried. I can't.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I can watch it and what I've researched and learned
doesn't click.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
So all right, so we're going to do an episode
on cricket. God'd be with us. We'll figure it out
because I have to go back. You guys, I was
watching that game live and I was doing I was
like a Pirates fan in the fog. I was looking around,
this is true. I was looking around to see when
(30:08):
other people were clapping and cheering. I figured out the
two groups that clapped and cheered at different times. I
picked the group I liked the most, and I've beat
me Max.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I went with that. Yeah, I agree, I respect that.
I respect that. I don't know, adaptable.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
It's also ethically fraud. But this is this is an
amazing catch by Red Murray.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Again.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
The game, as you said, is between the Giants, who
are now the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
People were already thinking of this as a wizard duel
between the pitchers.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, a real face off between future Hall of Famer
and Via Willis and Christy Matthewson.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
This is definitely a battle between the two pitchers. The
Giants get an early lead in the top of the
second inning two to oh, and the Pirates get a
run in the bottom of the third inning. However, we
have to go to the final part of this battle,
(31:19):
all right, so we're going past the seventh inning. Could
we get some seventh inning stretch.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Music and stretch? Yeah, stretch. It's the middle part, right.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It's like the penultimate part, the part when.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
They stopped selling beer.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Ah, is that what happens?
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Not all, not at all statings, but that's commonly.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It's a good demarcation of time.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I'll tell you I always thought that, being an Atlanta
Braves fan, I always thought the seventh inning stretch was
when people tried to get in front of traffic.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Is very much, at least a turner field. So the
problem that happened at the infamous infield Fly game is
the infield fly problem happened right after they stop selling beer.
So everyone had plenty of projectiles to throw onto the
field because they double double bought beer, right yea.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
My my analog for this, and my you know, stadium
going life is leaving before the final encore of a band, right.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yes, yeah, And so some people may have left during
that seventh inning stretch, and if so, they must have
great historical fomo because at the bottom of the eighth inning,
the Pirates turn the game around. And as they turn
the game.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Around, the weather and the game.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Sorry, well you know it's a mixtape, right, ridiculous one.
So what happens with the weather bend? It comes down,
it changes things, the fog rolls in. Let's go back
to saber Noll. From what I understand, this gave a
legendary pitcher a bit of a pickle. Christy Mathieson was
(33:09):
had a loggerhead.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Huh, yeah, he is. He has to make He's sort
of just biting his time a little bit. He's trying
to stall. He hopes that the oncoming storm would work
in his team's favor. However, and this is from saber
legendary umpire Bill clem ordered the bottom of the eighth
to begin just the same Matthewson delivered the first ball
(33:32):
as a crash of thunder, bellow zig zag, flash of
lightning lit the darkening grandstands, good writing. Pinch hitter, ham Hyatt,
these names baseball names. What the heck met the ball
and swatted a ringing triple to right field. The fireworks
in the sky and on the field were followed by
(33:53):
a brief lull, during which Ed Abataccio was sent in
to pinch Ruh for Ham Hyatt. Matthewson did his best
to kill time, but while the rain held patiently back,
Abaticio came around to score on a sacrifice fly. So
(34:14):
this is peak drama for the audience. You know what
I mean, We've got the thunder, the rain, the lightning.
I mean, I'm on the edge of my scene and
I really don't care about sports. As I mentioned, with
the score tied, they go on. The storm's approach was
heralded by multiple thunder his booms like the Costco guys
were in the room. The next batter, Tommy Leach, belt
(34:37):
at a double to right. Hall of famers to be
Fred Clark and Honus Wagner I've heard of him, were
coming up. The winds kicked up so much dust that
the players were barely discernible from the stands.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, you get in situations, right. This is where the
rain begins to fall. But the game must continue because
the umpire called it. So our buddy Mathieson is playing strategy,
I would say, because if you're a pitcher at this level,
you're not just blindly throwing different types of trick balls.
(35:11):
You're thinking of strategy. So this guy is using kind
of a chess mentality. He intentionally walks one guy, which
you can only do if you're a really good and
really smart pitcher. As the weather gets worse and worse
out there in the dark, Matheson's pitches become increasingly difficult
(35:37):
to discern. But a guy named dots Miller, since we're
doing fun names, dots Miller like dippin' dots. He hits
one of these balls out there in the dark and
drives it deep into right center. Everybody runs. Our buddy
Red Murray that we mentioned earlier is sprinting in an
(36:01):
all out pursuit, running like Forrest Gump.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Indeed, the writers for Saber go on from the stands.
The ball looked to be heading for the wall, a
home run or at least a two run triple. Seymour
pulled up, apparently losing sight of the ball. Murray continued
into the gap at full speed, stretching his bare right
hand as far as he could, and snared the sailing
(36:25):
liner just as another lightning bolt cracked behind him, framing
his body in light.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So imagine this looks like a painting from the Renaissance,
you know, Who've got the right hand extended as if
toward God. And then the lightning in the backdrop. And
then what's that the ball not in the midt? Is
this guy's hand?
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I had to it smarten a little bit, yeah, oh,
I'm sure. And then there comes the rain. It opens
up dowses the field. The game was ending in a
two to two tie, and one of the most remarkable
and as they described the saber picturesque.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Moments in baseball history.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, and after the game, right, it's a tie. So
in terms of the sport itself, this is not ideal
for either team, but this is amazing for fans of baseball,
fans of the great triumph of sporting pursuits. The local
(37:31):
papers are going nuts. People are saying this is the
greatest catch ever made on a baseball field, ever, never
to be duplicated. And these are only three examples, loosely
put of weird, weird stuff that has happened on a
baseball field. Spoiler alert, folks, a lot of people got
(37:55):
struck by lightning.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
My favorite part in what we've talked about today is
when they all lay dinner together on the field time.
I'm so hungry right now, I got some fun from
yesterday that I'm gonna It's perfect.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
I can leave y'all with one. It's when we unfortunately
cannot use because it literally happened this past season.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
But it's cut off. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, there was a game in Arizona earlier this year.
Arizona has retractable rioffins. Also Arizona Arizona Arizona Diamondbacks versus somebody.
I don't remember who they're playing, but right before the game,
a bee colony took up residence on the field, and
oh yeah, yeah it happened, but this.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Is when it started.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Is great, So they have to get have to get
somebody in take care of the bee thing. The game's
postponed for like an hour and a half. And you know,
I watched, you know, a lot of baseball.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
So I thought you were going to say you watch
a lot of bees, But I mean I watched.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I watch a decent on bees, and so I was
wondering there was there was that, and there wasn't really
much on the late window, and I was like, what's
going on with this one? So that happens. So they
get the guy out there, take like forty five minutes.
He goes up into a crane, he sprays it down
and it gets like a standing applause and the Diamondbacks
go around like you know what got your body? So,
(39:09):
still in his bee keeping outfit, he goes on the
mound throws out the first pitch.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
For the game. Oh that's kind of cute. I like that.
We should watch more bees, you guys, Okay, we should
start keeping them. Yeah, we should should have a ridiculous
history be calling. But let's take turns doing the doing
the keeping duties.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
It takes a village will be a blended family for bees.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, we could generate some merch out of it, some
ridiculous history candles perhaps, some okay, some ridiculous history, artisanal honeys.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
All right, go on. You know, I buy that honey
from a monastery. That's all I've got. It is great.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Those are absolute bangers. We are not joking about generating
an ap area of some sort.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
It would be cool.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
We just need a little bit of initial investments, seed capital.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little hive capital. Right, so.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
So ridiculous historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. We hope you enjoyed this episode as much
as we did. Big big thanks again to our super
producer and research associate for this one, mister Max.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Williams, indeed Alex Williams, who composed our theme, Christopher Rociotis
and he was Jeff Coates here in spirit.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Aj Bahamas, Jacobs, Rachel Big Spinach, Lance and of course
our number one weather delay Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
And the Easy Breezy Beautiful cover Girl. That is you,
Ben Shocks. Maybe it's maple Ley. It might be and uh,
we'll see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:28):
Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
Let's hear it for the number one Mickey Mantle of
Ridiculous History, our super producer, mister Max Williams.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
M Ken Griffy Junior, Rookie Card of Podcasting, Mister Max Williams,
the third Esquire.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Ooh, that was good.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Some of that I thought was gonna be really lame,
but it was actually really cool. A few weeks back, Ken,
Griffy Senior and Junior were at the Lakers game because
it was the opening opening night and it was the
first game that Lebron was gonna play with his son,
and I was thinking, I was thinking, oh, it's gonna
be kind of lame, but that was actually cool to
think about. It's like, how often in sports do you
(01:09):
see a father and son play together. There's the amazing
clip of like it's like Senior Crank Giffrey Seniors in
left field. He's gonna get a ball and Griffy Junior
jogs right in front of it and takes.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It from him.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Ah, it's a family affair. The student has become the teacher.
Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
You love to see it. You love to see it.
We also love to see our man himself in the
digital flesh. Folks, it's mister Noel Brown. Hello, Hello, Hello Ben,
you're Ben Bollen here. I've been going by that one
for a minute. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I think it's a good one. I think you should
stick with it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I like the alliteration on it. No one checked me, accustoms.
I was thinking in preparation for this episode and in Sports.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Week a sports half a month on ridiculous Story.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
We've been going through a spot for sure. I are
a phase. I was thinking about the coolest part of
seeing a live baseball game.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Now, Max hot dogs what it is?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
That's the answer at his dancewer Max, of course, is
our our expert sport two out of the three of us, folks.
We know that a lot of us in the crowd
today are big, big sports fans, uh. And if you
have ever had the opportunity to go to a live
(02:40):
baseball game, you will feel that electric energy. Like Noel,
I love the snacks as well. I love the cracker jacks,
you know, with the prize at the bottom.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
The peanuts and the Cracker Jacks. Yeah, there's a whole
song about it.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Sure, And we're we're talking about baseball today, and I'm like,
apple pie, baseball is a uniquely American thing.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Nice. That's a callback, folks. Nice. Nice.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
We have the immense pleasure of exploring baseball today with you.
I would like to ask you, guys, and I know
I'm sort of stacking the scales here, but I'd love
to ask you guys about the last baseball game you
remember being at in person with my mom and my kid.
(03:36):
The one that I remember most distinctly was when they
have like father Daughter Day at Brave Stadium and we
got to walk the bases and they give out all
kinds of daddy daughter like merch and there was like,
you know, it's pink Brave shirts and stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
But it was cool.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's cool to get to go down on the field.
And then I went to another one where remember the
rap artist to quote rap artist Flow Ryder, Yes, yeah,
he performed. They were doing a series at Brings Stadium
years ago where they would have like a different band
play after at the end of the game on the
on the field.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
So my most recent baseball game was actually not for
our Atlanta team, but for one of the biggest rivals
of Atlanta. I was in a New York City earlier
this year for.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
The NBA Draft.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
The Alanta Hawks won the draft lottery, so I met
a couple of friends flew in there for that. We're
there and we wanted to go see a Yankees game,
but unfortunately Yankees were just gone. They were on the
road that week, so we settled for the runner up
baseball team in New York. Of course, the New York Mets.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, who you know, See I know a thing or
two about sport.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are you doing that Yankee Mets thing?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
You have no right? You have no right, Max, You're
not from there.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
They're the runner up and just in general. Actually, when
I was at dinner, we went at dinner beforehand and
like one of the one of the waiters recognized this
road away shirt out was wearing, and we talked about it.
Here's the Yankees fan. And what I found out is
like Yankees fans and Nick fans are actually pretty cool,
but like the backup teams in New York, their fans
kind of suck. They're the fans that suck. Like the
(05:07):
main team fans are actually pretty cool. Like I like
Yankees fans, I like Knicks fans now. But anyways, to digress,
yeah uh not. Shea stadium was really beautiful ballparks. The
tallest ballpark I've ever been was very tall. It was
right underneath La Guardia, Like there's planes flying over you
at all points. But it was a beautiful ballpark and
it was a the Mets won a big game. It
(05:28):
was right after Grimace Mania had started. I don't I
don't know if you guys know about the whole Grimace
Mets grim shake. There was Grimace threw a first pitch
out of a Mets game this year and the season
was going to trash. Then the Mets ended up making
all the way to the NLCS.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
They credit Grimace for this stroke of good luck.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It was like a celebrity thing, so like at one
point they're going around, you know, it's New York. Similarly,
can they do this at the Lakers games in LA
where they just show the celebrities throughout the game and
they're going around and at the very end they had Grimace,
who it was like a standing ovation entire state and
going wild to Grimace and I'm like, I'm all, I'm
all four this is this is actually pretty cool right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Here, Grimace, the McDonald's purple mascot monstrosity who you hipped
us to the fact, is historically actually meant to be
a depiction of a giant anthropomorphic taste bud.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yes, well that's the running theory. Please check out our
series I Know What Happened to the McDonald's Mascots. Also
a quick shout out for all the Mets fans in
New York and surrounding areas.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You guys knew.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I think Noel and I go up to New York
at different times on a fairly regular basis, sometimes at
the same time. Sometimes yeah, when the stars align. And
I was I was hanging out in New York, just
kicking it with cool folks and a buddy of mine.
We were standing on the street and some guy walked
(06:56):
up to him and started beat me here man ching
about the Mets game. And then the guy immediately launched
into an in depth conversation about statistics, the past, the future,
and the present. And then they fist bumped and the
other dude left and I said, oh, you know that guy,
(07:19):
is he going to go with us to this comedy show?
And he said no, I don't know him. It's just
the Mets are for the undergrad.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
We're brothers in sport.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
That said something I saw so much in New York.
We're walking around with our Hawks here all the time,
and I think, you know, a Hawks fan is something
that people don't believe exists in what in the wild,
Like it's pretty rare. Everyone's like, whoa, they're actually are
Hawks fans. But I would see people and like, they're
so busy you tell it. They have like this deadline
and they're booking it, and they stop and they talk
sports with you for fifteen minutes. It's just part of
(07:48):
the culture. And I really appreciate it. Was awesome sports.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
As you fire.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It was about to say, I do sort of, you know,
feel a little bit of fomo about that kind of
camaraderie aspect of it, because I just is not my world.
But I'm learning a lot this week on ridiculous history.
Just pick like baseball. My team will be the Mets now.
I don't know, but we are talking about baseball today
(08:13):
and weather.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
In fact, yes, the weather. How dare anyone be a
fair weather fan? Which is a pretty big insult.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
You ever heard that? One?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Of course, I always call myself a fair weather gamer,
which I think is okay. I enjoy it, but I'm
not obsessed about it, and I don't know all the stats.
I'm not what you would call it a twitch streamer
or anything of that nature. But here's the thing about
weather as it pertains to baseball. It is one of
the sports that is typically played out of doors, and usually,
(08:53):
you know, a football oftentimes will be in like a
covered stadium. But according to the MLB schedule grid in
twenty twenty four, there are thirty seven games that were
either postponed, suspended, or canceled due to rain delays that
is in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Alone, or weather delays in general. But I think exactly,
if you've ever had the privilege of living in a
town that has a baseball stadium, then you will naturally
at some point encounter a weather delay, or the whole
enterprise may get rained out, and it turns the stadium
(09:31):
into a weird liminal space. It's like being stranded at
an airport. And we have a story about that for
a different day. Today's episode, which may indeed turn into
a series, is about the strange interaction between weather and baseball.
(09:52):
This is where we get to the concept of something
being mostly outdoors aka the domed Stadium's right.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
We did mention at the top that baseball is typically
played out of doors typically, but there are some outlier
type situations, and that is largely because of this thing
called a domed stadium, which has become popular in colder
or higher rainfall areas of the country because of its
ability to kind of take weather out of the equation.
(10:24):
The kind of commonality is the retractable dome stadium, which
is sort of an indoor outdoor situation.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. The idea is that, depending on
the current environmental conditions, the top of this stadium, this
thing we call the dome, can retract or extend right,
further shielding the players and the audience to be honest,
(10:58):
from the inclement weather. But in the early days of
this concept, the stadium would have an entire dome over it.
It would be an indoor.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Stadium, a fixed dome. Right there we go.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's talk about the astrodome with some
help from our pal Rick over at the Society for
American Baseball Research also known as SABER.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
That's right, Rick Schabowski. He talks about a rain now
in the astrodome. How is this even possible? It's domed,
protected from the elements. The Houston Astros don't even have
the traditional rain check printed on their tickets. That's where
that term comes from. Yet on Tuesday, June fifteenth of
nineteen seventy six, the supposedly impossible happened. A game between
(11:52):
the Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates was postponed because of rain. Ben,
how how did this happen?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I'm so glad you and I'm over the moon over
the dome that our research associate Max has helped us
out with the answer, As Rick says, the day of
the game, a powerful thunderstorm developed over the Houston area
and was caused by humid, unstable atmospheric conditions along the
(12:20):
Gulf Coast. These combined with a cold front extending from
the Gulf all the way through Central Texas. It was
similar to a tropical storm. Lots of rain that just
kept coming down. Got to the point where you couldn't
reach the Astrodome because the streets were flooding. Fans couldn't
(12:45):
get to the stadium. The staff working the astrodome, the
folks who sell you those Cracker Jackson hot Dogs, they
couldn't get there either.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, that's because the stadium itself was actually forty five
feet below ground level, So all of the lower ramps
and entrances you know, into the stadium would have been
absolutely impassable because of the flooding. So Schabowski poses the question,
I think is on all of our minds, how did
the players manage to arrive for the game without major issues?
And he goes on to quote the Astros historian Acosta,
(13:18):
who said that players started arriving around one PM, when
it was still possible to get to the stadium. They
had to be dressed by three or three point thirty.
The Pirates team bus made it through, as did the
Astros coming by themselves.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, and that again is Astro's team historian, Mike Acosta.
It's true, folks, you can have an entire career as
the historian of a single sports team, you know, and
in some cases a historian for a single individual in
(13:52):
the world of sports. Shout out to everybody right in
their dissertation on Kobe or Tiger as we speak, so
as like you nailed it. As the game is approaching,
the weather is approaching as well. The Pirates and the
Astros get into the venue in just enough time, but
(14:16):
the weather is churning. And this is where we go
to the management of these teams, especially a guy named
tal Smith.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it's up to him to kind of make the
call to assess the situation, and he decided that it
would be probably the smart move to postpone the game
because of concern for fans and employees' safety, not to
mention the players themselves. So at five PM it was
announced that the game would be postponed essentially due to
(14:49):
a rain delay situation, because it was so heavy and
it wasn't showing any signs of slowing.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Oh nice, Is that a Willy Wonka reference? It asked
to be, so, all right, So here's what happens. The
local news is reporting this, and a lot of people
are obviously aware of the weather and concerned, and the
streets are flooding. People can't make it to the game.
(15:18):
A local TV reporter quote a spokesman for the Astros
who says, this wasn't exactly a rain out, it was
a rain in. We do have This is my favorite
part of the story, though, This is the coolest part
some fans are so die hard that they did make
(15:40):
it to the stadium, and when they did, it was
only about twenty of them. When they did, the Astros
felt so bad that they said, all right, you know,
we're not going anywhere, you guys.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Let's I'm stuck. I mean, the players aren't. Yeah, you're right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Let's just grab some nah, you know, let's all have
dinner together. And so they went to the stadium cafeteria
except for the players. The actual baseball players eight on
the field because it was covered and not flooding exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
You know, this reminds me of like there's that I
think it's in.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The first season of The Sopranos where there's a huge
storm in Jersey, you know, where the Soprano family lives,
and everyone kind of all the main characters end up
at Ardi Buco's restaurant.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Who's the He has gas so.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
He can make them their linguini or whatever, and it
becomes this like really lovely kind of family, like you know,
coda for the first season of The Sopranos, And so.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
An indoor stadium got rained out. If we go to
infielder for the Astros at the time, Rob Andrews. He says,
even on the next morning, things were far from normal.
The drive home was surreal. No one was on the road.
As I got on the Interstate by the Dome, I
(17:00):
had to weave through abandoned cars left right where they
stole the night before. I couldn't shake the feeling I
was in some kind of world ending disaster flick.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I think some of us here in Atlanta, I've experienced
similar things with the Snowmageddon that that plagued nur Fair
City a handful of years ago. Pretty wild, very post
apocalyptic vibes. Well, let's move on to another story of
whether postponing these sort of end all be all of
baseball events.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
The World Series.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Yes, yes, the World Series, which again I hold is
an unfair and inaccurate name.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
That's true. We talked about that on a recent episode.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Why are you guys so scared of the Hanshin Tigers, Yeah,
pointing out.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
That Japan one to twenty twenty three World Baseball Classic
of all the United States ever won one.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
But you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
But there have been throughout the history of this series
multiple games that have had to contend with let's just
call them kind of odd weather anomalies.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, let's go back to nineteen seventy nine, to the
Grand Metropolis of Pittsburgh. The only game in all of
World Series history that was canceled due to snow was
the first game of the nineteen seventy nine Fall Classic
between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Max. Don't put a boo
(18:35):
here the Baltimore Orioles.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I love the Baltimore Oorls. They're all my favorite teams.
Oh no, well, don't put a boo, then don't. There's
no need, no no boo, no boo required.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And we're getting a lot of this from Mark Poleo
writing for Aci Weather. Noel, do we have the details
on how snow froze out the World Series?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
We do.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Game one was supposed to take placed on a Tuesday,
October ninth, but was postponed an entire day due to
snow and freezing rain conditions in Baltimore. When it finally
did take place the very next day, the first pitch
temperature was the coldest in history, that is until nineteen
ninety seven, when World Series Game four broke that record.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Rain, however, fell throughout Game one.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It definitely reaked some havoc on the precision of the players.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Let's just say and for reference.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
World Series Game four in nineteen ninety seven was between
the Florida Marlins and the Guardians from Cleveland, who were
going under a different name at the.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Time, exactly, and the rain caused six total errors between
the two different teams. Game three also was plagued by
rain delays, a sixty seven minute rain delay. However, the
series was ultimately won in seven games the Pirates.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yeah, this feels a little bit like trench warfare. I
don't think the players were having the best time ever.
It was super cold. They had a wintry mix, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I hate a winter remix. It's kind of a bummer.
If you think about it, You're like, this is like
the biggest moment of your life for some of these players,
and it's an absolute, you know, crapstorm.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Literally not fun, and a winter remix is all the
worst parts about cold weather and none of the cool
fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, like snow baseball sounds like it could potentially be
fun snowball, not winter remix baseball.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So you can look at an article from The New
York Times that gives step by step blows of just
how messy this initial postponement was, this back and forth,
and of course are good friends at SABER come in
to outline just how difficult the conditions were during all
(21:02):
seven games, especially Game three. And you're absolutely right, Noel,
it was not an ideal weather condition. But that's why
we play baseball outside.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, with that in mind, why don't we stick around
the Burgh that is pitts It's Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Let's go, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Let's go back just a couple more decades in history
and find an even more ridiculous example of weather absolutely
greaking havoc with a World Series.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yes, yes, yes, all right. The final game of the
World Series in nineteen twenty five was between the Washington
Senators and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is considered one of
the weirdest final I know you don't like the word
one of the oddest final games in all of Major
(21:57):
League Baseball history.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Oh sure, I like weird. No, I get what you're
putting down.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Then yeah, I gotta say though, a battle between Senators
and Pirates classics seems like a no brainer. The Pirates
are gonna win. Senators are a bunch of squares. Pirates
have swords and grappling hooks and eye patches. Yeah, they
also have a Senators have notebooks ties.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I mean hopefully some sort of moral compass.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
I walk down the street for that one.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But but yeah, the Pirates also historically will have parkour
of some sort, right, the sailors parker, which you know
they don't know all kinds of knots. Yeah, super into knots,
those guys. Over forty two thousand fans watched the Pirates
try to succeed against a big deal pitcher for the
(22:53):
Washington Senators, a guy named Walter Johnson.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
The Senators had a secret weapon and they they sure do.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
That was like, this guy is their cutless, their sailor's parkour,
all the stuff you gem at once.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
All world end a one.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, yeah, he's super good at pitching. It's like Walter's
main thing. The only problem is that for these thousands
of fans, they cannot see the game because there is
thick fog and heavy rain, so they're they're just cheering
off vibes.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, you know what, there's nothing wrong with vibes based activities.
We fully support that here on ridiculous history and on
stuff they don't want you to know. And then the
reason they had to resort to vibe checks is because
of a thick fog that had descended onto the event,
which I'm sorry, I'm sticking with my pirates theme here.
(23:50):
It makes me think of the John Carpenter movie The Fog,
about ghost pirates emerging from the fog. It sounds like
a real spooky situation there, heavy rain and thick fog.
Writers in the press box couldn't even follow the action
on the field.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Dude, the guy at the outfield couldn't see the infield.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You're talking about Goose Goslin. That's not a real person.
Goose Goslin.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
That's incredible. He's the both the goose and the is
also the gander. I'm sorry, I'm blown away by this name.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
He's the goose for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yet we also see a journalist from the New York Times,
a guy named James Harrison, who was at the scene
and described the infield as a quote grave of mud.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
It was like Woodstock ninety four during the nine inch
Nails set. Yeah, absolute mud, people.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So there was a weather related controversy that you know
how it is when you feel like the authorities at
a sporting event make the wrong hole. The fans are
super pissed.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, and they can't see much better, So everyone's running
off vibes, and the vibes are starting to get nasty.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Tell us what happened.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah, So in the eighth inning, Keiki Koyler, it was
a big deal on the Pirates. He hit a double
what's called a ground rule double, scoring the Again, some
of these turves are not in my lexicon, but the
go ahead runs, Max, tell us what a ground rule
double and go ahead runs are.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
The ground rule double is when you hit a double
that bounces out of play. So instead of people just
being able to run because it's out of play, they
just give you second base. Go ahead runs. You go aheadhead.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
I see, you just wave them on through you.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
To go ahead runs, like you're like, you know, it's
a six to six game. You score a run. You
get that run right there, the one that made seven
to six, it's a go ahead runs.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You went ahead.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, so this is bad news for the Senators. This
is great news for the Pirates. But our buddy, this
senator from the outfield, Goose, uh.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
The Honorable Senator Goose Goslin right from the outfield.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Funny he actually did serve two terms in the US Senate.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
No, he did not look up. Yeah, no one. I
believe you. I believed you mean rascal. Hey, I believe
in you. Guys. Max. I'm sorry I called you that
horrible name. I didn't mean it.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
So the I think a team called the Rascals would
be cool.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So the issue is the umpires also cannot be authorities
at this point, and the Honorable Senator from the outfield,
Goose says to reporters later, look, these umpires couldn't see it.
Referring to the play. It was too dark and foggy.
It wasn't fair at all. It was not a ground
(26:48):
rule double. It was foul by two feet. I know
because the ball hit the mud and stuck there. Going
back to the earlier grave.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Of mud comment, Ben, this is literally a fog of
war types that suation is.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I love that you pointed that out. I didn't even
think about that. So it's it's true that the weather
got in front of the game and top of on front,
on top of Yes, you guys noticed, I stopped saying
under the weather and I started saying, the weather is
on top of people. I clocked it, Ben, no, you
(27:23):
clocked it. And let's end today's exploration with the story
of Red Murray.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Little Red Murray.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Let's go back to the good old days of the
MLB Major League Baseball and talk about how Weather might
have played a significant.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Role in providing one.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Of the most I guess remarkable and kind of beautiful
moments in baseball history. Jay Guphro And another excellent name,
Dan Bonk. That's not nominal conterminism. I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
That also sounds like a crime in a different language.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Dan Bonk, writing for SABER again, the Society for American
Baseball Research, he had this to say. This took place
at forbes Field, he said. While forbes Field had its
share of legendary home runs Masarowski's nineteen sixty Game seven
World Series clout and Babe Ruth's final three, the old
(28:32):
park was the scene of some memorable defensive moments as well,
unassisted triple plays by Pirate shortstop Glenn Wright on May seventh,
nineteen twenty five, and Cub shortstop Jimmy Cooney on May thirtieth,
nineteen twenty seven, and the bare handed catch made by
New York Giant right fielder Red Murray on August sixteenth,
(28:54):
nineteen oh nine. Not an actual giant, a member of
the team known as the New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
A giant in our hearts indeed. And also this leads
us to an interesting side note about when people were
allowed to use gloves for a time, just so everybody knows,
in the early days of baseball, it was considered unsportsmanlike
(29:21):
to use a mit.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Interesting think about cricket. They don't use meths and cricket, Well.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
That's because they're real men. How does cricket work? What
is what is a wake?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Right there?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
I know in concept how cricket works, but I have
you watched it.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I've tried. I can't.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I can watch it and what I've researched and learned
doesn't click.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
So all right, so we're going to do an episode
on cricket. God'd be with us. We'll figure it out
because I have to go back. You guys, I was
watching that game live and I was doing I was
like a Pirates fan in the fog. I was looking around,
this is true. I was looking around to see when
(30:08):
other people were clapping and cheering. I figured out the
two groups that clapped and cheered at different times. I
picked the group I liked the most, and I've beat
me Max.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I went with that. Yeah, I agree, I respect that.
I respect that. I don't know, adaptable.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
It's also ethically fraud. But this is this is an
amazing catch by Red Murray.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Again.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
The game, as you said, is between the Giants, who
are now the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
People were already thinking of this as a wizard duel
between the pitchers.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, a real face off between future Hall of Famer
and Via Willis and Christy Matthewson.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
This is definitely a battle between the two pitchers. The
Giants get an early lead in the top of the
second inning two to oh, and the Pirates get a
run in the bottom of the third inning. However, we
have to go to the final part of this battle,
(31:19):
all right, so we're going past the seventh inning. Could
we get some seventh inning stretch.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Music and stretch? Yeah, stretch. It's the middle part, right.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It's like the penultimate part, the part when.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
They stopped selling beer.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Ah, is that what happens?
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Not all, not at all statings, but that's commonly.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It's a good demarcation of time.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I'll tell you I always thought that, being an Atlanta
Braves fan, I always thought the seventh inning stretch was
when people tried to get in front of traffic.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Is very much, at least a turner field. So the
problem that happened at the infamous infield Fly game is
the infield fly problem happened right after they stop selling beer.
So everyone had plenty of projectiles to throw onto the
field because they double double bought beer, right yea.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
My my analog for this, and my you know, stadium
going life is leaving before the final encore of a band, right.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yes, yeah, And so some people may have left during
that seventh inning stretch, and if so, they must have
great historical fomo because at the bottom of the eighth inning,
the Pirates turn the game around. And as they turn
the game.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Around, the weather and the game.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Sorry, well you know it's a mixtape, right, ridiculous one.
So what happens with the weather bend? It comes down,
it changes things, the fog rolls in. Let's go back
to saber Noll. From what I understand, this gave a
legendary pitcher a bit of a pickle. Christy Mathieson was
(33:09):
had a loggerhead.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Huh, yeah, he is. He has to make He's sort
of just biting his time a little bit. He's trying
to stall. He hopes that the oncoming storm would work
in his team's favor. However, and this is from saber
legendary umpire Bill clem ordered the bottom of the eighth
to begin just the same Matthewson delivered the first ball
(33:32):
as a crash of thunder, bellow zig zag, flash of
lightning lit the darkening grandstands, good writing. Pinch hitter, ham Hyatt,
these names baseball names. What the heck met the ball
and swatted a ringing triple to right field. The fireworks
in the sky and on the field were followed by
(33:53):
a brief lull, during which Ed Abataccio was sent in
to pinch Ruh for Ham Hyatt. Matthewson did his best
to kill time, but while the rain held patiently back,
Abaticio came around to score on a sacrifice fly. So
(34:14):
this is peak drama for the audience. You know what
I mean, We've got the thunder, the rain, the lightning.
I mean, I'm on the edge of my scene and
I really don't care about sports. As I mentioned, with
the score tied, they go on. The storm's approach was
heralded by multiple thunder his booms like the Costco guys
were in the room. The next batter, Tommy Leach, belt
(34:37):
at a double to right. Hall of famers to be
Fred Clark and Honus Wagner I've heard of him, were
coming up. The winds kicked up so much dust that
the players were barely discernible from the stands.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, you get in situations, right. This is where the
rain begins to fall. But the game must continue because
the umpire called it. So our buddy Mathieson is playing strategy,
I would say, because if you're a pitcher at this level,
you're not just blindly throwing different types of trick balls.
(35:11):
You're thinking of strategy. So this guy is using kind
of a chess mentality. He intentionally walks one guy, which
you can only do if you're a really good and
really smart pitcher. As the weather gets worse and worse
out there in the dark, Matheson's pitches become increasingly difficult
(35:37):
to discern. But a guy named dots Miller, since we're
doing fun names, dots Miller like dippin' dots. He hits
one of these balls out there in the dark and
drives it deep into right center. Everybody runs. Our buddy
Red Murray that we mentioned earlier is sprinting in an
(36:01):
all out pursuit, running like Forrest Gump.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Indeed, the writers for Saber go on from the stands.
The ball looked to be heading for the wall, a
home run or at least a two run triple. Seymour
pulled up, apparently losing sight of the ball. Murray continued
into the gap at full speed, stretching his bare right
hand as far as he could, and snared the sailing
(36:25):
liner just as another lightning bolt cracked behind him, framing
his body in light.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So imagine this looks like a painting from the Renaissance,
you know, Who've got the right hand extended as if
toward God. And then the lightning in the backdrop. And
then what's that the ball not in the midt? Is
this guy's hand?
Speaker 2 (36:51):
I had to it smarten a little bit, yeah, oh,
I'm sure. And then there comes the rain. It opens
up dowses the field. The game was ending in a
two to two tie, and one of the most remarkable
and as they described the saber picturesque.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Moments in baseball history.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, and after the game, right, it's a tie. So
in terms of the sport itself, this is not ideal
for either team, but this is amazing for fans of baseball,
fans of the great triumph of sporting pursuits. The local
(37:31):
papers are going nuts. People are saying this is the
greatest catch ever made on a baseball field, ever, never
to be duplicated. And these are only three examples, loosely
put of weird, weird stuff that has happened on a
baseball field. Spoiler alert, folks, a lot of people got
(37:55):
struck by lightning.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
My favorite part in what we've talked about today is
when they all lay dinner together on the field time.
I'm so hungry right now, I got some fun from
yesterday that I'm gonna It's perfect.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
I can leave y'all with one. It's when we unfortunately
cannot use because it literally happened this past season.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
But it's cut off. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, there was a game in Arizona earlier this year.
Arizona has retractable rioffins. Also Arizona Arizona Arizona Diamondbacks versus somebody.
I don't remember who they're playing, but right before the game,
a bee colony took up residence on the field, and
oh yeah, yeah it happened, but this.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Is when it started.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Is great, So they have to get have to get
somebody in take care of the bee thing. The game's
postponed for like an hour and a half. And you know,
I watched, you know, a lot of baseball.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
So I thought you were going to say you watch
a lot of bees, But I mean I watched.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
I watch a decent on bees, and so I was
wondering there was there was that, and there wasn't really
much on the late window, and I was like, what's
going on with this one? So that happens. So they
get the guy out there, take like forty five minutes.
He goes up into a crane, he sprays it down
and it gets like a standing applause and the Diamondbacks
go around like you know what got your body? So,
(39:09):
still in his bee keeping outfit, he goes on the
mound throws out the first pitch.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
For the game. Oh that's kind of cute. I like that.
We should watch more bees, you guys, Okay, we should
start keeping them. Yeah, we should should have a ridiculous
history be calling. But let's take turns doing the doing
the keeping duties.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
It takes a village will be a blended family for bees.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, we could generate some merch out of it, some
ridiculous history candles perhaps, some okay, some ridiculous history, artisanal honeys.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
All right, go on. You know, I buy that honey
from a monastery. That's all I've got. It is great.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Those are absolute bangers. We are not joking about generating
an ap area of some sort.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
It would be cool.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
We just need a little bit of initial investments, seed capital.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little hive capital. Right, so.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
So ridiculous historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. We hope you enjoyed this episode as much
as we did. Big big thanks again to our super
producer and research associate for this one, mister Max.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Williams, indeed Alex Williams, who composed our theme, Christopher Rociotis
and he was Jeff Coates here in spirit.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Aj Bahamas, Jacobs, Rachel Big Spinach, Lance and of course
our number one weather delay Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
And the Easy Breezy Beautiful cover Girl. That is you,
Ben Shocks. Maybe it's maple Ley. It might be and uh,
we'll see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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