Nine Names on One Card

Nine Names on One Card (1971)

Danny Murtaugh wrote out a lineup at Three Rivers Stadium that is believed to be the first all-Black and Latino starting nine in major league history. Richie Hebner and Gene Alley were hurt, and Murtaugh wanted Al Oliver at first that night. Clemente, Stargell, Sanguillen, Ellis, Clines, Cash, Oliver, Hernandez, Stennett. The men on the field had no idea until the game started, and Sanguillen only heard about it in the second inning. Pittsburgh won 10-7, the local papers barely mentioned it, and that same club won the World Series in October.

Three Legends, Three Wrong Positions (1902)

Johnny Evers made his major league debut for Chicago at shortstop, so manager Frank Selee slid Joe Tinker over to third base. Frank Chance was at first, Bobby Lowe at second. The three men who became the most quoted infield in American sports were in the same lineup for the first time, and not one of them was standing where you picture him. It took another twelve days for them to line up the way the poem would remember them.

The Record and the Man Who Set It (1916)

Grover Cleveland Alexander shut out Brooklyn 3-0 at Baker Bowl for his 14th shutout of the season, breaking the modern record. The pitcher he beat that day was Jack Coombs, who had set the old mark of 13 for the Athletics in 1910. Alexander finished with 33 wins and 16 shutouts, tying George Bradley's 1876 mark. Nobody has gone past 16 since.

The Pitcher Who Ran (1963)

Curt Simmons was standing on third base in Philadelphia with a squeeze play on. The play fell apart. Simmons ran anyway and scored. He also tripled and beat the Phillies 7-3, which is a particular sort of afternoon when you spent thirteen years pitching for them before they released you in 1960. Almost every pitcher steal of home on record came on a double steal, with a teammate breaking for second to draw the throw. Simmons did not have that. He just went.