CHARLIE BYRNE: VISIONARY FOUNDER OF THE DODGERS FRANCHISE
SABR BASEBALL BIOGRAPHY PROJECT Print Charles Byrne This article was written by Ronald G. Shafer. “Why that’s Charley Byrne, a man who has done more than anyone else to give Brooklyn the position it occupies as the centre of professional baseball.” i Charles H. Byrne, the co-founder and first president of the Brooklyn Base Ball Club, was one of the most influential baseball...
Read MoreGUNNER MCGUNNIGLE: BROOKLYN’S FIRST PENNANT-WINNING MANAGER
SABR BASEBALL BIOGRAPHY PROJECT Print Bill McGunnigle This article was written by Ronald G. Shafer. William “Gunner” McGunnigle had a flair for fashion on a baseball field that likely will never be matched. McGunnigle managed and coached the bases wearing black patent-leather shoes, a cutaway suit coat, lavender trousers, a silk tie and a derby hat. “It’s only a good looking...
Read MorePRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS ONCE WERE EXCITING. REALLY!
From the Virginia Gazette, Aug. 18, 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS By Ronald G. Shafer James City With the 1920 Republican convention in Chicago deadlocked after nine ballots, party bosses in the proverbial smoke-filled room lined up behind handsome Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding. But first they asked if...
Read MoreON THIS DAY IN EARLY DODGERS HISTORY: FEB. 5
Feb. 5, 1891: John Montgomery Ward, star shortstop and manager of Brooklyn’s former Players’ League team “Ward’s Wonders,” signs to manage the Brooklyn Bridegrooms in 1891. He replaces Bill “Gunner” McGunnigle, who is let go after winning two straight pennants....
Read MoreON THIS DAY IN DODGERS HISTORY: JAN. 22
JAN. 22, 1932: The Brooklyn baseball team officially adopts the name Dodgers after local sportswriters vote for that moniker over the only other nameJ that comes up, the Kings. Here is the original story from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Jan. 23, 1932 under the headline: “Brooklyn Base ball Club Will Officially Nickname Them ‘Dodgers’ Ebbets Field Leaves It...
Read MoreTHIS DAY IN EARLY DODGERS HISTORY: JAN. 3
Jan. 3, 1886: The Brooklyn Bridegrooms try to sign two New York Metropolitan players – first baseman Dave Orr and outfielder Chief Roseman –after the major league American Association goes to court to try to block the sale of the Mets to a Staten Island group headed by Erustus Wiman, who owns the Staten Island...
Read MoreON THIS DAY IN EARLY DODGERS HISTORY
Jan. 2, 1883: Brooklyn sportswriter Henry Chadwick reminisces about “base ball” back in the 1860s, when umpires didn’t call balls and strikes unless a batter simply refused to swing at anything: “I once saw Al Smith, in a match between the Brooklyn Atlantics and the New York Mutuals, pitch sixty balls to one batsman before the...
Read MoreLARRY KING A DODGERS OWNER? WOULD PLAYERS WEAR SUSPENDERS?
Famous TV talk show house Larry King reportedly is part of a group seeking to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. Larry, who now lives in Los Angeles, has been a Dodgers fan since he grew up in Brooklyn and rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers. According to ESPN ...
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