Back in the Day Winter League

 

The Blog!

Game, Team & Player Spotlight

 

1974 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

1973 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

1971 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

1972 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

1971 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

1970 - Game & Player Spotlight / News & Notes!

 

September 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from September:
      • September free agent signee, Bob Coluccio of Texas, set a new record with 3 triples in a game.
      • Hunnefield’s Pete Rose became the 9th player to hit for the cycle as he did it on September 29th. It ends the longest cycle draught as it had not happened since Bobby Grich did it way back in April 1973.
      • Sleepytown’s Frank Tanana tied the record for most k’s in a game when he notched 16 against St. Louis on September 5th. Steve Carlton was the 1st to reach that mark in September 1972 and then Nolan Ryan did it twice in 1973. Also during that game, Tanana tied the record for consecutive K’s with 7 tying Tom Bradley and Bob Gibson.
      • Frank Tanana also added a 1-hitter on September 19th to his list of September accomplishments. This was the 7th 1-hitter of the season.
      • Sleepytown’s Frank Tanana and John Montefusco both ended the season with 11 consecutive wins. They will start 1976 six wins from the record of 17 straight held by Burbank’s Steve Carlton and Gaylord Perry.
      • A separate write-up summarizing all the milestones reached in 1975 will follow shortly.

 

August 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from August:
      • NO-HITTER! Wellington’s Dan Warthen threw the 9th no-hitter in BDWL history on August 9th against Asbury Park. He becomes the 2nd pitcher in Wellington franchise history to do it as Lynn McGlothen was the 1st to do it in 1974.
      • NO-HITTER #2! Atlanta’s Paul Splittorff threw the 10th no-no in BDWL history on August 22nd against Florida. He is also the 2nd pitcher in his franchise history to toss a no-hitter as Steve Kline did it back in 1972.
      • Interestingly N0-HITTERs seem to arrive in bunches as 7 of the 10 no-hitters occurred in a month that had another no-hitter. Steve Carlton and Dick Tidrow had their no-hitters in August 1972, Lynn McGlothen, Roger Moret & Vida Blue had theirs in July 1974 and of course this months no-hitters.
      • Burbank’s Thurman Munson became the 11th player (4th to do it in 9 innings) to get 6 hits in a game as he accomplished this feat on August 29th.
      • Northern’s Pete Falcone became the 1st player to throw 2 1-hitters in the same month as throw 1-hitters on August 11th and August 22nd.
      • HIT-STREAK! Asbury Park’s Rick Burleson set a new record for consecutive games with a hit this month as he went 33 consecutive games breaking Bobby Murcer’s 3 year old record of 27. Interestingly, it was Dan Warthen’s no-hitter than ended Burleson’s streak. In the irony department, Burleson broke the record on August 3rd with a single to RF that fell in front of guess who …. Bobby Murcer!
      • Long-time Texas Fire Ant, Sal Bando, became the 7th player to reach 500 RBI in ironic fashion as he did it playing for San Diego in a game on August 24th against Texas. Dallas’ Roy White become the 8th player (2nd player in Dallas franchise history) to reach 500 RBI as he did it with a 3 RBI game against Pittsburgh on August 29th. A bunch more players should get there in September: Cesar Cedeno (497), Billy Williams (496), Lee May (493), Dick Allen (492), Willie Davis (491) & Joe Morgan (487).
      • The BDWL now has 2 pitchers with 100 career wins and they are both from Burbank. Gaylord Perry was the 1st to get there in July 1974 and with his win on August 20th against Northern, Steve Carlton is the 2nd. Very close to reaching 100 are Bert Blyleven (99), Catfish Hunter (98) and Wilbur Wood (97).
      • This month’s version of getting close … starts off with Wellington’s Lynn McGlothen who has now won 14 consecutive decisions leaving him just 3 short of the record of 17 held by Burbank’s Steve Carlton and Gaylord Perry.
      • Some more players getting close are Joe Morgan who sits at 999 hits and Tony Perez who sits at 973 hits. We expect in September they will become the 6th and 7th players to reach 1,000 hits. Willie Stargell is SLOWLY creeping towards being the 1st player in BDWL history to reach 200 homeruns as he hit 2 more in August to stand at 198 … just 2 more to go!

 

July 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from July:
      • St. Louis’ Bob Forsch threw his 1st 1-hitter of his career on July 31st vs. Palm Beach.
      • Since it was a pretty uneventful month as far as records go … we are breaking out the “Getting Close”! Bobby Murcer’s hitting streak of 27 games has held up since May 1972, but Asbury Park’s Rick Burleson has an active streak of 25 straight games as he heads into August. Interestingly, if Burleson can keep the streak going through his 1st 2 games in August against Northern, Murcer’s Texas Fire Ants come to town with the hitting streak record on the line.
      • Also under “Getting Close”, Texas slugger Willie Stargell who was subject to a lot of trade rumors, but ended up remaining in Texas, is now only 4 homeruns shy of becoming the 1st player in BDWL history to reach 200 round trippers!
      • Burbank’s Hank Aaron became the 6th player to reach 500 RBI as he got there on July 30th against Pittsburgh.
      • The 12th & 13th players reached 500 runs scored in July; Dallas’ Reggie Jackson got there on July 10th against Wellington and Pittsburgh’s Rusty Staub got there on July 30th against Burbank.
      • Another dose of “Getting Close” … this time its career wins. Gaylord Perry is currently the only pitcher in BDWL history to reach 100 career wins but others are now getting close. The race to be the 2nd player is between Texas’ Bert Blyleven who has 97, Burbank’s Steve Carlton has 96 and St. Louis’ Catfish Hunter has 94. Out of the bunch, it is Catfish who has been pitching the best as of late as he went 4-2 with a 0.98 ERA in July.

 

June 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from June:
      • Hunnefield’s Chris Chambliss tied Willie Stargell when he hit 4 doubles in a game on June 13th.
      • Burbank’s Gaylord Perry set a new record by retiring 26 consecutive Pioneers in a game on June 3rd. It was also the 1st 1-hitter of his career.
      • Toronto set a new record with 7 errors in a game on June 4th.
      • Oregon tied Fremont when they scored 12 runs in one inning against Texas.
      • Two more players reached 1,000 hits, as Cooperstown’s Willie Davis as the 4th player to get there on June 11th against St. Louis and Fremont’s Rod Carew was the 5th on June 24th against Dalllas.
      • The 9th, 10th & 11th players reached 500 runs scored in June; Sleepytown’s Tony Perez on June 2nd against Toronto, Dallas’ Roy White on June 2nd against Texas and Fremont’s Rod Carew on June 13th against Wisconsin.
      • Northern’s Johnny Bench became the 5th player to reach 500 RBI as he got there on June 4th against Savannah.

 

May 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from May:
      • On May 10th, the Burbank Barnstormers made history by becoming the 1st team in BDWL history to reach 500 wins. They accomplished the feat with a 15-6 victory over the Northern Great Whites who should also reach 500 wins this season as they sit at 464. The 464 wins puts them in 3rd place all-time as the Dallas Hilltoppers have 484 wins and look to be the 2nd team to reach 500 wins.
      • St. Louis’ Lou Brock is now the 3rd player in BDWL history to reach 1,000 hits as he reached the mark after a 3 hit game on May 7th against Atlanta.
      • Dallas’s Reggie Jackson became the 4th player in BDWL history to reach 500 RBI as he got there on May 22nd in a game against Texas.
      • Two more players the 7th and 8th in BDWL history have reached 500 runs scored. Cincinnati’s Carl Yastrzemski got there on May 6th against Burbank and the 4th Texas player, Willie Stargell, got there on May 10th against Asbury Park.
      • The 7th pitcher has now reached 1,000 K’s as Burbank’s Steve Carlton k’d his 1,000 batter on May 15th against Cincinnati. Both Texas and Burbank now have 2 players to reach this milestone.
      • Bobby Grich of Burbank tied a record with 14 total bases in a game against Texas. He ties Dick Dietz, Frank Robinson (also did it with Burbank) and Bob Watson on a record that was previously last accomplished back in June 1971 by Watson.
      • Lack of homeruns is becoming a St. Louis tradition as they have tied the record of 16 consecutive games without hitting a homerun and 11 games of not allowing a homerun. St. Louis tied their own record of not hitting a homerun in 16 consecutive games originally set in 1973 and not allowing a homerun in 11 consecutive days tied by them in 1974 (originally set in 1974 by Cincinnati). St. Louis has only hit 9 homeruns through May and seems likely to set the record for fewest homeruns in a season of 56 set by Chicago in 1974. They have also only allowed 22 homeruns, so could also set a new record for fewest homeruns allowed. The current record is 82 set by Burbank in 1972.

 

 

April 1975

 

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The Blog (highlighted are new since last posting)

  • TOLUCA LAKE – A couple of items of interest from April:
      • In 1974 we saw the fewest 1-hitters in a season with only 4, but 1975 has gotten off to a fast start with 2. Wisconsin’s John Curtis tossed one against the struggling Atlanta Crackers and Wellington’s Dan Warthen followed up with one against the Texas Fire Ants.
      • Hunnefield’s Pete Rose became the 2nd player in BDWL history to reach 1,000 hits as he passed the mark with a 4-hit game against Pittsburgh on April 28th. Rose joins Bobby Murcer as the only players to reach 1,000 hits. Next on the list are St. Louis’ Lou Brock who sits at 989 and Cooperstown’s Willie Davis who sits at 976.
      • Texas’ Sal Bando became the 6th player in BDWL history to reach 500 runs scored as he reached the mark on April 8th in a game against Cooperstown. Bando is the 2nd Fire Ant to get there as Bobby Murcer reached the mark back in 1973.
      • St. Louis’ Bert Campaneris became the 3rd player in BDWL history to reach 200 stolen bases as he reached the mark on April 17th in a game against Oregon. His teammate Lou Brock reached the mark in 1973 along with Dallas’ Joe Morgan.
      • Several pitchers reached the 1,000 K mark in April. Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Bert Blyleven all reached the mark in 1974 and now we add 3 more names to the list:
          • Burbank’s Gaylord Perry k’d his 1,000 batter on April 11th in a game against Asbury Park. Perry who reached 100 wins in 1974 is now the 1st pitcher to accumulate 100 wins and 1,000 K’s.
          • Texas’ now has a 2nd pitcher reach 1,000 K’s as Fergie Jenkins joins Bert Blyleven as he reached the mark on April 27th against Asbury Park. The Rockers had the unique honor of being the 1,000 victim for 2 pitchers in April.
          • Altanta’s Don Sutton got his 1,000th K on April 28th in a game against Sleepytown.