On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.
Happy Birthday to Mike Krukow*, farewell Hollywood Stars, and other stories for the discerning reader.
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Today in baseball history:
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1953 – The Baseball Writers Association of America passes over Joe DiMaggio in his first year of eligibility and elects pitcher Dizzy Dean and outfielder Al Simmons to the Hall of Fame. Dean gathers 209 votes while Simmons’ total of 199 is one more than needed. The colorful Dean had a .644 career winning percentage and won 120 games from 1932 through 1936, including 30 wins in 1934. Simmons, who drove in 100 runs in each of his first eleven major league seasons, was one of the most feared hitters of his time. Also joining DiMaggio, who finishes eighth in the voting, are in order Bill Terry, Bill Dickey, Rabbit Maranville, Dazzy Vance, Ted Lyons, Charles Bender (ninth) and Gabby Hartnett (tenth). All will eventually make it. DiMaggio’s low total can be explained by the fact that there is no actual ballot, only write-in votes, and it is not clear whether DiMaggio is eligible since he played his last game only two years earlier. (1,2)
Cubs Birthdays: Mike Krukow*, Dave Smith, Alan Benes.
Today in History:
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1522 – Head Inquisitor Adrian Florisz Boeyens is elected pope.
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1793 – Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine in Paris, following his conviction for “high treason” by the newly created French Parliament (Convention nationale), during the French Revolution.
Common sources:
*pictured.
Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.
