Tag Archives: Shibe Park

Lefty Grove Takes A Bat To His Glove – 1931 World Series

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World Series “Action” – Lefty Grove Breaks In A New Glove

What does a star pitcher do between games of the World Series? If you are 31-game winner Lefty Grove you take time to  work on breaking in a new glove.

Breaking In A New Mitt
Robert (Lefty) Grove victor over the St. Louis Cards first battle of the World Series, is seen here in Shibe Park, Philadelphia, October 4th as he breaks in a new glove. Grove will probably be selected to pitch against the Cards in the third game Oct, 5th. photo: Acme 10/4/1931

A new glove didn’t help Grove in game three Continue reading →

I Want That Baseball. What Some People Would Do For A Foul Ball – 1947

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You’ll Never See Fans Go For A Baseball Like This Again

God forbid someone was to try and climb the backstop screen at a baseball game today. If this situation seen here happened now, a potential climbee would be pulled down, arrested and barred from the stadium for life.

If no one from the ballpark interfered with you, you could fall, break some bones and then hire a lawyer and sue the team for not protecting you from yourself.

Seventy years ago this was obviously not the case.

The place is Shibe Park in Philadelphia, The date is September 7, 1947. The Philadelphia Athletics would sweep a Sunday doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox by scores of 7-4 and 4-3. Times of the games: 2:19 and 1:50.

But for part of one inning this mad dash for a foul ball was the entertainment for the 32,464 fans in attendance.

Amateur Aerialists Steal Baseball Show

Philadelphia, PA… When a high foul ball lodged in wire mesh screen behind the home plate in the 8th inning of the Boston-Philadelphia game at Shibe Park, these two boys stole the show from the diamond in their efforts to race for the ball as a souvenir. Neck-craning spectators may be seen in the lower foreground. A television camera is peeping through the screen on the center. The upper boy got to the ball and got back to terra firma safely, much to the relief of the crowd. 9-8-47 photo: Mike Freeman, International News

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The First Baseball Strike – May 18, 1912

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An Unlikely Catalyst Causes a Baseball Strike – Other Players Rally Around the Unpopular Ty Cobb

On Wednesday May 15, 1912 The Detroit Tigers were playing the New York Yankees at Hilltop Park in upper Manhattan when one of the most infamous incidents in baseball history occurred.

Ty Cobb, the star outfielder for the Tigers was incited by a fan to go into the stands and pummel him.

The fan, Claude Lucker (alternately spelled by contemporary papers as Lueker or Leuker) worked as a page in the office of Tammany boss “Big Tom” Foley.  From the onset of the game Lucker was being particularly obnoxious according to all accounts. Cobb and Lucker exchanged nasty barbs and Cobb warned Lucker to stop calling him names or he would come into the stands to take care of him personally. By the fourth inning Cobb had had enough and he jumped into the left field stands and started administering a beating and no one seemed to interfere.

Sticks and stones were probably not as harmful to Cobb as the names which could hurt him – especially when the racist outfielder was called a “half-nigger” by Lucker, which was what apparently drove him over the edge.

It should be noted that Lucker had a machine press  accident when he was younger and was missing one hand and had Continue reading →