A Wrigley Field tradition
The first official MLB game at Wrigley Field featured Pete Schneider pitching for the Reds and Claude Hendrix pitching for the Cubs. Both pitchers faced 33 batters, which is something 2017 MLB innings leader Chris Sale didn’t do a single time last season. This was back when men were men and a sore arm just needed a little dirt rubbed on it, not like the namby-pamby pitchers of today.
In a bizarre twist of fate, the first official MLB game at Wrigley Field also went 11 innings, just like the first official game at Fenway Park. In fact, both first games ended with the home team winning and had the same final score, 7-6. It’s like one of those strange “President Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln and President Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy” things.
Remember Hal Chase, the crooked first baseman for the Highlanders in the first official game at Fenway Park? Well, here he is again, as the first baseman for the Reds in the first official game at Wrigley Field. Also, pitcher Hippo Vaughan was on the roster of a team in both games, first with the Highlanders and then with the Cubs. He pitched for the Highlanders in the Fenway Park opener but was on the bench for the Cubs in the first official MLB game at Wrigley Field.
This game also featured a pair of Heinies at third base. Heinie Groh played the hot corner for the Reds. Heinie Zimmerman manned the position for the Cubs. You don’t hear that name much anymore. Possibly because it became a slang word for buttocks in the 1930s.
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Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are near the top of the “bucket lists” of many baseball fans because they’ve been around so long. With the Red Sox and Cubs both on the road tomorrow, neither ballpark will have a celebration of their unofficial “birthdays,” but baseball fans across the country can take a moment to appreciate the Green Monster in Boston and the ivy in Chicago.