Utah AABL

10/21/2026

09/26/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: September 26

Ten Runs in the Ninth, and Still Not Enough (1912) The Reds trailed the Cubs 9 to 0 with three outs to go. Then a string of walks, several with the bases loaded, handed Cincinnati a 10 to 9 lead. The wildness turned out to be contagious. In the bottom half, two Reds relievers walked four Cubs and hit another, and the tying and winning runs came home without a single Chicago hit. Final: 11 to 10, on a Thursday afternoon when nobody could find the plate.

Jim Konstanty and the Undertaker (1950) At Braves Field, Jim Konstanty jogged in from the Phillies bullpen for the 71st time, passing the 70 games Ace Adams pitched for the 1943 Giants and setting a 20th century record. He finished the year at 74, every one in relief, and became the first relief pitcher to win an MVP award. The bespectacled former phys ed teacher credited a neighbor in Worcester, New York: Andy Skinner, the town undertaker, a bowler who had never played baseball but understood spin. Whenever the slider went flat, Skinner came to watch him throw. The Whiz Kids' bullpen ace had the strangest pitching coach in the league.

Mel Stottlemyre Outhits Washington (1964) Rookie Mel Stottlemyre, all of 22, shut out the Senators 7 to 0 on two hits. That was the ordinary part. At the plate he went 5 for 5, which means the Yankees' pitcher finished the afternoon with more hits than the entire Senators lineup. No pitcher had a five-hit game again before the designated hitter went universal in 2022, and now nobody will get the chance.

Eric Young Closes Mile High Where He Opened It (1993) On April 9, Eric Young led off the first game in Denver with a home run, the first by a Rockie at Mile High Stadium. He did not hit another all season until the final home game, when he hit two in a 12 to 7 win over the Reds. In between, the expansion Rockies drew 4,483,350 fans in their very first year. No club has topped it since.

09/25/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: September 25

Al Kaline, Batting Champ at 20 (1955) Al Kaline went straight from high school to the Detroit Tigers, and two years later he was the best hitter in the American League. On the final day of the 1955 season he finished at .340 with 200 hits to claim the batting title at 20. Only Ty Cobb had won one that young, back in 1907, and Kaline beat him by a matter of days on the calendar. No American League batting champion has been younger since.

Satchel Paige Beats the Clock (1965) Charlie Finley's last-place Kansas City A's needed a crowd, so he started Satchel Paige, listed at 59 and 12 years removed from his last big league game. Before the first pitch Paige sat in a bullpen rocking chair while a nurse rubbed liniment into his arm. Then he blanked the Red Sox for three innings, allowing only a Carl Yastrzemski double. When he left, the stadium lights went out, fans held up lit matches, and the crowd sang "The Old Gray Mare." Nobody older has ever played in a major league game.

Tommy John Gets a Second Career (1974) In July 1974, Dodgers lefty Tommy John tore the ligament in his pitching elbow, an injury that had always ended careers. On this day Dr. Frank Jobe rebuilt it with a tendon from John's right arm and put his odds of pitching again at about one in a hundred. John sat out 1975, came back in 1976, and won 164 more games over 14 seasons, 40 more than he had won before. His name lives on every time a pitcher gets a second chance.

Brian Kingman's Number (1980) Oakland lost 6-4 to the White Sox, and Brian Kingman had his 20th loss of the season. He finished 8-20 on an A's team that went 83-79. Nobody in the majors lost 20 again until 2003, which made Kingman the last 20-game loser for 23 years. He embraced it, turning up at the starts of pitchers who got close and rooting for them to win. Some numbers you chase. Some you guard.

09/23/2026

This Day in the Old Ball Game: September 23

A gentlemen's rulebook, a run that never counted, an ace who joined the Navy three wins shy of 200, and a batter nobody let strike out.

The Knickerbockers Put It in Writing (1845) On this day in New York, the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club adopted twenty written rules. The first side to 21 "aces" won, as long as both teams had batted an equal number of times. One rule banned a schoolyard favorite: retiring a runner by throwing the ball at him. Historians still argue over who actually wrote the rules. Nobody argues that the game got a lot less painful.

Fred Merkle Never Touches Second (1908) Giants and Cubs, tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth at the Polo Grounds, pennant race dead even. With two outs and runners on the corners, Al Bridwell singled, the run crossed, and the crowd poured onto the field. Nineteen-year-old Fred Merkle, the runner from first, headed for the clubhouse without touching second. Johnny Evers got hold of a ball, stepped on the bag, and umpire Hank O'Day ruled Merkle out, with darkness forcing a tie. The Cubs won the replay, the pennant, and the World Series. They would not win another until 2016.

Larry French Goes Out on Top (1942) In his final big league start, Brooklyn's Larry French one-hit the Phillies, 6-0, to finish a 15-4 season. That gave him 197 career wins. He joined the Navy that winter and hoped to keep pitching for the Dodgers. It never happened. French made the Navy his career, serving 27 years and retiring as a captain in 1969. The record book says 197. The Navy's says captain.

Jim Deshaies Starts With Eight (1986) Astros rookie Jim Deshaies had not started in nearly two weeks. He came out firing at the Astrodome, striking out the first eight Dodgers he faced, a modern record nobody matched for 28 years. Next up was the pitcher's spot, and Tommy Lasorda had seen enough. He sent up pinch hitter Larry See, who popped out to second. Deshaies finished with a two-hit, 4-0 shutout and 10 strikeouts, eight of them before anyone put a ball in play.

Ed. 09.23.26