Wed, Sep 21, 1994
In the period 1930-40, the Depression had a major impact on the game of baseball. Many teams were nearing bankruptcy with attendance dwindling and fan interest at its lowest ebb. The owners introduced many innovations in an attempt to revive interest and attendance including the All Star game. Night games were introduced in 1935 and the Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown in 1939 on the mythical 100th anniversary of creation of the game. The sport still provided its heroes however. Babe Ruth was larger than life and in 1930 signed an $80,000 a year contract; his teammate Lou Gehrig had become the best hitter in the AL. Barnstorming black teams played white teams regularly and had an entertaining pre-game warm-up routine dubbed shadow ball. The Negro leagues came into its own and drew huge crowds. It had its own stars such as Satchel Paige, one of the greatest pitchers in all of baseball, and catcher Josh Gibson it's greatest hitter. By the end of the decade, the Babe's career was over, Gehrig had retired due to ALS and professional baseball was still segregated.
Mon, Sep 27, 2010
This latest entry covers the period from the early 1990's onward. Labor relations deteriorated badly in the early part of that decade leading to the players strike in August 1994. The Montreal Expos were the best team in baseball at the time but when a Federal judge blocked the owners from unilaterally imposing a contract (which would have let them use replacement players) it quickly came to an end and the players returned to work under the old contract. Attendance dropped after that but the game recovered quickly with the heroics of Cal Ripkin Jr. By the end of 1990's, fans were caught up in the home run derby presented by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. There was also the first whiff of scandal when McGwire was accused of using steroids. It was also an era when new baseball stadiums were built in many cities, evoking an earlier age when the parks were built specifically for the sport. The curse of the Bambino finally came to an end with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. Barry Bonds broke McGwire's three year-old season home-run record and later Hank Aaron's HR record. The issue of drug use eventually led to Congressional hearings after the BALCO scandal and the Mitchell Report, which named many stars as having used performance enhancing drugs. This inning is dedicated to the late, great Buck O'Neil.