12 October 1981: Quebec scores five times in the second period to take a 6-2 lead over the visiting North Stars, and then have to hold on for dear life as Minnesota scores twice late in the 2nd to make it a contest and then twice more in the final eight minutes to make it a thriller. With the extra attacker on the ice and time running out, Bobby Smith gets a chance on the doorstep but Dan Bouchard flashes the pad and drops the glove on the puck as the final horn sounds. Minnesota's top line generates 20 shots on goal, but it is the Stastny line that dazzles with three goals and nine points. Final: Nordiques 7, North Stars 6.
1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 29 May
Reds 5, Pirates 3: Cincinnati ran Pittsburgh catcher Ed Sweeney ragged at Forbes Field, stealing eight bases in nine attempts and forcing three throwing errors on their way to a road win. Pat Moran gave his charges the green light early and often, as the Reds stole at least one base in each of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th innings - Greasy Neale and Larry Kopf each swiped three bags, Neale (3-for-5) robbing second and third after a single in the 5th before scoring on Sweeney's third wayward throw of the contest. The visitors had a 5-0 lead after Kopf (3-for-4, 3 RBI) tripled home a run in the 7th, but Pittsburgh mounted a comeback in the bottom half of the inning. Slim Sallee, who had allowed just three Pirate hits to that point, found himself in trouble straight away when he began the frame allowing a walk, a single and wild pitch that scored a run; two singles and a ground out produced two more Pittsburgh scores, but Sallee got out of the inning when Casey Stengel ripped a line drive right into the glove of Kopf at short and then settled down to retire the final six Pirates without allowing another hit. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Wednesday, 28 May
Braves 4, Cubs 3: Hank Gowdy singled to cap a two-out, bases-empty game-winning rally in the bottom of the 10th inning that carried Boston past visiting Chicago. Hippo Vaughn and Art Nehf wrestled for control of the game in the early going, with the Braves scoring once in the bottom of the 1st on Walter Holke's RBI single and the Cubs equalizing on Dode Paskert's run-scoring single in the 6th. The game opened up a bit thanks to subpar defense in the 7th, although still to neither club's advantage, as Chicago scored twice with the help of a catcher's interference call that put the leadoff man aboard and Boston got back level with two in their half with the help of a fielding error by Fred Merkle. Both starters shouldered their loads into extra innings and, after the Cubs did nothing with a leadoff single in the top of the 10th, Vaughn set down the first two Braves in the home half. But Lena Blackburne singled and Vaughn then let one get away from him and into the thigh of Rabbit Maranville to force the potential winning run into scoring position, before Gowdy poked his fourth hit of the day into shallow left field to convert the potential into the actual. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Tuesday, 27 May
Pirates 3, Giants 2: Pittsburgh scored twice in the 9th inning to snatch victory from New York and foil Jesse Barnes' bid to become the circuit's first five-game winner. The Pirates took an early lead when Tony Boeckel doubled home a run in the 2nd, but New York punched back just an inning later when Barnes' leadoff walk, George Burns' single, and a ground out lined things up for Hal Chase to bring around both men with a single. Barnes and Frank Miller of the Pirates were allowing nothing from that point forward - Barnes retired thirteen of fourteen men at one stretch, and Miller's only heartburn came when Larry Doyle reached on an error to start the 6th and immediately swiped second. The Pittsburgh hurler was excelling at getting the Giant batters to hit the ball to the roomiest parts of Brush Stadium, recording nine of his final twelve outs on fly balls to the outfield. In the top of the 9th, Casey Stengel led off with a base hit for the Pirates and moved to second on a ground out to the right side. George Cutshaw then delivered the game-tying blow with an RBI single, before stealing second himself and continuing on to third when the throw from Mike Gonzalez skipped past Art Fletcher and into center field. Vic Saier (3-for-4) then followed with a two-hop two-bagger off the outfield fence to put the visitors in front. New York got a man on in the 9th, but pinch-hitter Jigger Statz was thrown out trying to steal the tying run into scoring position for the final out of the game. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Monday, 26 May
Braves 5, Cubs 3: Rabbit Maranville stroked three hits, scored one run and knocked in another to help Boston edge Chicago at Braves Field. The Cubs took a 2-1 lead on Charlie Pick's two run triple in the 3rd, but Boston answered them in the succeeding inning with a pair of their own. Maranville led off the stanza with a base hit, but was caught attempting to steal second. But Walt Trageser and Dick Rudolph followed him with base hits and Joe Riggert drew a walk to load the sacks. That set the table for Buck Herzog to whack a two-run single that gave the Braves a 3-2 lead which lasted all of one half-inning. Two singles and a sacrifice led to a Chicago run and a tie game, but Maranville grabbed the lead right back for the Braves with an RBI hit in the bottom of the inning after Walter Holke had singled and stolen second. Rudolph then locked the door behind Boston by putting away fourteen of the final fifteen Cubs, twelve of them on ground balls. Five Braves combined for all eleven of their base hits, while Bill Killefer had three of Chicago's safe knocks. [box]
1919 NL Players of the Week - 25 May
The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the National League during the week of 19-25 May are (boldface denotes a League-leading total) . . .
1919 NL - Games of Sunday, 25 May
Giants 8, Cardinals 1: Heinie Zimmerman had three hits and three runs batted in as New York put away St. Louis at home. Art Fletcher's third home run of the season got the Giants off to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd, and Fletcher's ground ball to short that was booted by Rogers Hornsby scored another in the 4th. The Cards perhaps still were in with a shout, but New York scored three times in the 6th behind an RBI single by Zimmerman and George Burns' two-run base hit and then they chased Marv Goodwin in the 7th when Zimmerman doubled across two more. Red Causey, who won for the third time against no defeats, was the beneficiary of this offensive largesse, and he stifled St. Louis on seven hits, five of which came in the last three innings when the outcome was no longer in doubt. The Cards got their only run on Verne Clemons' solo homer in the 8th, and Benny Kauff had three hits and scored three runs for New York. [box] [broadcast]
1919 NL - Games of Saturday, 24 May
Robins 6, Pirates 5: Brooklyn ran out to an early 6-0 lead and Burleigh Grimes held off a late Pittsburgh charge to record his fourth victory of the season. The Robins wasted no time once they got the bats in theri hands, as Ivy Olson (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 batted in) led off the home 1st with a single, stole second, and scored on Zack Wheat's two-out single. Olson was on the other end of the scoring in the 3rd, driving in two runs with another two-out base hit, and his 4th-inning single was one of five in a three-run Robin outburst that made the score 6-1 in favor of the home team. It all looked to be routine for Grimes until, in the 8th, it wasn't. With one out, a walk to George Cutshaw was followed by a Vic Saier single; when Ray Schmandt booted Tony Boeckel's ground ball to second for his third error of the game the door was ajar for the Pirates, and pinch-hitter Walter Schmidt barged through it with a bases-loaded triple that suddenly made it a contest again. Grimes was again in trouble in the 9th, allowing a double, single and walk with one away to load the bases, so Sherry Smith was summoned to set things straight. He walked Boeckel to force in a run to make it a one-run game, but got Schmidt to tap one back to the mound for the out that ended the game. Pittsburgh had their chances (twelve runners left on base), but squandered most of them by hitting a combined 5-for-19 with runners in scoring position. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Friday, 23 May
Cubs 5, Phillies 2: Chicago racked up fourteen base hits and ran the bases with abandon on their way to a win over Philadelphia at the Baker Bowl. The Cubs commenced their hitting early, scoring in the 1st on Max Flack's single and Dode Paskert's double, and didn't stop until the contest had concluded. They failed to have at least one safe hit in just one inning, and had multiple hits in six of them. After the Phillies had rallied to take the lead with a pair of runs in the 3rd on Doug Baird's second home run of the season, the visitors began relentlessly chipping away at their deficit starting in the 5th. Flack hit his second four-bagger in that inning to tie the game, and a Fred Merkle triple and Bill Killefer single each scored runs in the 6th to give the Cubs the lead. Merkle's RBI single in the following frame provided a bit of insurance, and Pete Alexander cruised to the victory despite watching his ERA climb to 0.97 for the season. Chicago baserunners had it out for Phils backstop Bert Adams all afternoon, attempting to steal on eight occasions and succeeding four times. Charlie Hollocher, who had two of those steals, had three hits in the game as did Merkle. [box]
Season Ticket Baseball at Digital to Dice Con 2025
The first-ever face-to-face Season Ticket Baseball tournament was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Preston CT, during the recent Digital to Dice Con 2025. The theme of the tournament was "(A Level Playing) Field of Dreams", with any team in the Season Ticket catalogue that had a regular-season winning percentage between .490 and .510 eligible to participate. Eight managers, including the game's designer Clay Dreslough, faced off for bragging rights and a place in tabletop baseball immortality as the first STB Tournament Champion . . .
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