Dale Long is best known for hitting HRs in eight straight games (May 19-28) for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1956 season.

• Dale broke the previous mark of six held by five players, the last of whom was Willie Mays.
• Long's mark has since been tied by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (1993).

However, Dale achieved another distinction as a defensive player.

• Playing for the Cubs in 1958, Long became the first left-handed C since 1905. He did so in two games. In both cases, he shifted from 1B to C in the ninth inning.
• Chicago manager Bob Scheffing pressed Dale into service as his backstop in the first game of a DH vs his old team, the Pirates, at Wrigley Field on August 20. Long used his first baseman's mitt to catch RHP Don Elston for 1/3 of an inning and lefty Bill Henry for 2/3 in the 4-2 loss.
• Long again took over the C position on September 21 in a 2-1 loss at The Friendly Confines against the Dodgers (in their first year in Los Angeles). This time he employed a left-handed catcher's mitt to receive Elston's deliveries.

Two other players have since caught left-handed in the big leagues.

• Mike Squires did so for the Chicago White Sox in two games in 1980.
• in 1989, Bennie DiStefano caught three southpaw games for the Pirates.

Final note: Dale Long played the 1952 season for the New Orleans Pelicans of the AA Southern Association.

The 1976 Chicago White Sox of new owner Bill Veeck sported some of the most controversial uniforms in MLB history. Taking over a team that finished 75-86 in '75, Veeck applied his famous promotional skills to generate some excitement for the new season.

On March 4, Veeck held one of his famous impromptu press conferences at a pub in Chicago.

• Rumors had already circulated that the Sox would wear new uniforms. So writers grilled Veeck on that subject.
• "We are adding elegance to baseball styles," the owner replied. "We may not be the greatest team in baseball, at least not for a few years, but we'll immediately be the most stylish team in the game."
• Reminded that Charley Finley's Oakland A's had already departed from the traditional white and gray shirts and pants, Bill remarked, "The White Sox are not going to be dressed like a bunch of peacocks. There is a difference between color and elegance ... You will be awed ... Comiskey Park will replace Paris and New York as the fashion center of the World."
• One questioner asked, "Are you going to have the White Sox wearing shorts ... like the Hollywood Stars used to wear?" Bill: "We don't borrow ideas from anyone. However, I believe safety may rule out shorts ... and panty hose."

1976 White Sox players with owner Bill Veeck

When unveiled, the uniforms were not colorful, just navy and white. But they were different, reminding some of uniforms from the first decade of the 20th century.

When the White Sox visited refurbished Yankee Stadium for the first time in the 1976 season on April 20, New York manager Billy Martin questioned whether the uniforms were entirely legal.

• Specifically, Billy thought there must be something in the rules against white undershirts, especially if worn by a P.
• Martin lodged a protest with Umpire Marty Springstead, who agreed with Billy but wasn't sure.
• Since it was too late to check with the AL office, Springstead ordered Sox P Bart Johnson to remove the white sleeve on his shirt. After the repair was made with a scissors, Johnson continued on the mound. He gave up five Yankee runs in only two innings.
• Before Clay Carroll relieved in the third, he replaced his white shirt with a blue one.
• When the Yankees won 5-4, Chicago manager Paul Richards protested the game.
• AL president Lee MacPhail ruled that the white shirts were acceptable but allowed the outcome of the contest to stand.

The uniforms included one set with shorts.

• The shorts were worn only once, during the first half of a DH on August 8, 1976, against Kansas City.
• Royals 1B John Mayberry told his opponents, "You guys are the sweetest team we've seen yet."
• The Sox won the game 5-2 with four steals (and four skinned knees?).
• Chicago ditched the uniforms for the second game and never donned them again.
• The White Sox lost the second game 7-1 and compiled a 24-37 record the rest of the season.

Oakland A's uniforms

August 17, 1882: In one of the classic games of the 19th century, the Providence Grays defeated the Detroit Wolverines 1-0 in 18 innings in a National League game in Providence.

• The winning blow was a HR by RF Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, who is in the Hall of Fame as a pitcher.
• Both starting pitchers, winner Montgomery Ward (another future Hall of Famer but as a shortstop) and loser Stump Weidman, went the distance.
• Providence almost won in the 16th when George Wright "hit a liner over Wood's head and out of the horse gate, but Wood went outside, got the ball and fielded Wright out at the plate" (Detroit Free Press).
• Wright had played for the first "openly professional" team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. He is in the HOF as an executive/pioneer. His brother Harry was manager of the Grays who finished second that season to the Chicago White Stockings.
• Detroit finished sixth in the eight-team league.
• This game ranked as the longest shutout in ML history until September 1, 1967, when San Francisco blanked Cincinnati 1-0 in 20 innings.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell is the only announcer who ever figured in a baseball trade. In 1948, Ernie was play-by-play man for the Atlanta Crackers of the AA Southern Association. Branch Rickey, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, needed someone to fill in for his lead announcer, Red Barber (another future Hall of Famer), who was recovering from a perforated ulcer. When Rickey asked Earl Mann, President of the Crackers, about the availability of Harwell, Mann saw the chance to drive a bargain. He would let Harwell go to Brooklyn if Rickey sent Montreal C Cliff Dapper to Atlanta to manage the club. Rickey agreed and the rest is history. Ernie made his MLB debut on August 4 as the Dodgers beat the Cubs at Ebbets Field 5-4.

Harwell moved across town to the New York Giants and was part of the broadcast team with Russ Hodges that called the famous third game of the 1951 playoff won by Bobby Thomson's HR. Harwell eventually became the lead announcer in Baltimore and, in 1960, went to Detroit where he spent the rest of his career calling Tiger games. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1982. He retired in 2002, although he had been forced out for one year by Tiger management in 1992 in what has been called "the most ridiculed firing in broadcasting history." He was restored the following year after fans refused to embrace the younger announcing team.

On Sunday, September 27, 1953, the St. Louis Browns played their last game at Sportsman's Park. Unable to compete with the Cardinals despite making Card hero Marty Marion his manager, owner Bill Veeck wanted to move the team. However, he had so alienated the other AL owners that they told him he had to sell the team before they would agree to a move. The team would begin the 1954 season as the Baltimore Orioles.

3,174 gathered for the finale against the Chicago White Sox. This may not seem like much of a crowd for the final game, but it topped the 2,068 that had attended Friday night and Saturday's 1,937. (This brought the total attendance for the entire year to 297,238, which was about one-third of the league average.) The game went into extra innings. When plate umpire Art Passarella called for fresh baseballs, he was told that the supply was exhausted. Facing the possibility of having to call the game, Passarella picked out the least damaged balls that had previously been thrown out during the game. Unfortunately for the home team the game continued, and the White Sox won 2-1 to complete a sweep of the three-game series. The Browns lost their 100th game to finish last (8th), 46.5 games behind the champion Yankees.

Bill "Spaceman" Lee tells this story in his book Baseball Eccentrics. He was pitching for the Red Sox against the White Sox in a driving rain. Lee decided to throw nothing but slow curveballs, figuring that the hitters would have to look up into the rain and blink. After 14 straight slow curves, both managers started yelling at him.

• Chicago's Chuck Tanner: "You son of a bitch, quit showing up my hitters!"
• Lee's own manager, Eddie Kasko: "You can't throw that many curveballs in a row!"

The last out of the game was recorded by Bill Melton, who hit a line drive off Lee's chest. He dropped down to pick it up and threw under his arm to first for the out. This left him lying in the soggy infield grass. He got a standing ovation for a complete game win in which he threw nothing but slow curves the last three innings.

April 25, 1970: Tigers @ Twins at Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington MN. 7th inning. 2 outs. None on.

Tiger pitcher Earl Wilson at bat. Wilson strikes out. However, 3B coach Grover Resigner, noticing that Twin C Paul Ratliff trapped the ball, told Wilson to run to first since Ratliff didn't tag him or throw to first. Instead Ratliff rolled the ball back to mound. (Like Angel C Josh Paul when the White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski struck out in the 2005 AL Championship Series.) Most of the Twins left the field when Wilson starts running. So he races around the bases and turns for home when LF Brant Alyea, on his way to the dugout, retrieves the ball and throws to SS Leo Cardenas at the plate. Wilson puts on the brakes and tries to get back to third but Alyea beats him to the bag and takes Cardenas' peg in time to tag out Wilson. So the play goes 1-2-7-6-7.

Reference: Baseball Digest, August 2007

Several players have been suspended for 30 days for their actions on the field (not illegal drug use). Some examples:

• Bill Dickey of the New York Yankees was quiet off the field but very competitive behind the plate. On July 4, 1932 he broke the jaw of the Senators' Carl Reynolds with one punch after a collision at home plate. William Harridge, AL President, suspended Dickey for 30 days and fined him $1,000. When Dickey returned on August 4, he hit a grand slam and three singles as the Yankees clobbered the Chicago White Sox 15-3.
• One of Dickey's teammates was suspended ten years later. In the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1942 World Series, Frank Crosetti, angry at being called out at third by Bill Summers, accosted the umpire and pushed both hands into his stomach. Summers pushed the smaller Yankee right back. Crosetti wasn't ejected because Commissioner Landis had asked umpires to be sensitive to wartime manpower shortages. However, Frank was fined $250 and suspended for the first 30 days of the 1943 season.
• Crosetti returned to the New York lineup May 21, 1943. Eight days later, Dodgers pitcher Johnny Allen, incensed over a balk call, grabbed umpire George Barr by the shoulders. NL President Ford Frick fined Allen $200 and gave him 30 days off.