The Cardinals Become First Responders

The Cardinals Become First Responders (1911)

At 3:30 a.m. on July 11, the Federal Express jumped the rails outside Bridgeport, Connecticut and tumbled down an embankment. The St. Louis Cardinals, asleep in the last two Pullman cars (the only ones that stayed on the track), climbed into the wreckage in their pajamas and pulled strangers from the twisted metal. Fourteen people died, but the club, including a young Miller Huggins, was credited with saving lives. Player-manager Roger Bresnahan wired home four words: "All my men safe."

A Rookie Silences the Loudest Bats (1953)

The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers had homered in 24 straight games, a record at the time, when they ran into Giants rookie Al Worthington at Ebbets Field. In just his second big-league start, he scattered four hits and blanked Brooklyn 6-0, snapping the streak and handing the pennant-bound Dodgers their only shutout all season. It was his second straight shutout to open a career, a first for a modern National League pitcher.

The Manager Who Never Made the Majors (1968)

Earl Weaver played 13 years of pro ball and never once reached the big leagues. He got there anyway on July 11, 1968, taking over the Orioles from the fired Hank Bauer and winning his debut 2-0 behind a Dave McNally two-hitter. The chain-smoking, umpire-baiting Earl of Baltimore would go on to 1,480 wins, four pennants, the 1970 World Series, and a plaque in Cooperstown, all while getting tossed close to 100 times.

One Swing, One Million Dollars (1999)

Gylene Hoyle, a Chandler, Arizona mother of two, had never been to a big-league game when she won tickets off a radio station and, in a Sunday promotion, picked Diamondbacks second baseman Jay Bell to slam one in the sixth inning. Then the sixth came, the bases loaded, and Bell drove a 3-2 pitch into the seats. Arizona won 7-4, and a woman who barely knew the game walked out a millionaire.