ZB Digital Library

This date in 1970 saw the end of 61 years worth of tradition and baseball history at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, PA.  The last game at Forbes Field was played before 40,918 fans who saw the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs by scores of 3-2 1 and 4-1. 2 Forbes Field opened on June 30, 1909, with a game against the Chicago Cubs that saw the Cubs win by a score of 3-2 3 . Vic Willis started the game at pitcher for the Pirates and the first batter he faced, Johnny Evers, was hit by the pitch.  Later, Frank Chance would collect the first hit and RBI - scoring Evers - in the parks history. 4 The first Pirates' win in the park would have to wait until July 2 when Nick Maddox pitched a complete game to beat the Cubs by a score of 4-2. 5   The first home run in park history came from Cincinnati Reds player Mike Mitchell on July 5 off of Willis. It was the top of the ninth inning and the Reds were being shutout when Mitchell blasted one over the lef...

June 17, 1960 Red Sox vs. Indians Boxscore On this day in 1960, Ted Williams would become the fourth player in history to hit his 500th career home run. The Boston Red Sox were in Cleveland to take on the Indians and rookie pitcher Wynn Hawkins.  It was a cold night and Ted Williams always had trouble hitting in cold weather.  Williams was 41 years old and in his final season of what would be a 19-year career.  The combination of the cold weather, advanced age and recently coming back from injuries to his neck and leg caused him to have trouble loosening up before the game.  He was unsure if he was going to be able to play and even asked manager Pinky Higgins for the day off.  However,  in true guts and grit determination that had come to epitomize Ted Williams' work ethic, he was ready to go when the line-up card was posted. Williams had started the season with 492 career home runs, which placed him fifth on the all-time list and only one behind Lou ...

It was June 16, 1884, and the Chicago White Stockings were at Olympic Park in Buffalo, NY to play the Bisons.  Manager Adrian Anson had allowed Fred Goldsmith, his secondary pitcher, the day off so Goldsmith could travel to Canada.  This left the team with only one pitcher, Larry Corcoran.   Unfortunately, on that day Corcoran was dealing with an injury on the index finger of his right hand, his pitching hand.  The Buffalo Commercial noted that "He has a felon, and when a felon is on a pitcher's right index finger he has no business in the box."  It is not surprising that Corcoran was dealing with injuries, because for four years manager Anson had been over using him.  Between his rookie season in 1880 and through the end of the 1884 season, Corcoran had 170 wins, pitched 2,279 innings, and finished 246 of the 255 games he started, all with a 2.23 ERA.  To average that out, he won 34 games, completed 49 of 51 games started, and pitched 456 innin...