28 June in Sports History

Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore on June 28.

Our jersey numbers that made history on this date are:

3 - 14 - 25 - 26

June 28, 1907 - In baseball history when one hears the name of Branch Rickey, the thoughts of bravery of a a brilliant baseball executive who inked Jackie Robinso to a deal where he would play int he MLB for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The knowledgibale sports historian might also know that Rickey introduced the batting helmet to baseball, created the framework for the modern minor league farm system, played professional football for the Shelby Blues of the "Ohio League", and encouraged the Major Leagues to expand to new markets with added team through his involvement in the proposed Continental League. What you might not know is that Branch was an MLB player once. Admittedly not a very good one as he only played from 1905 through 1907. On this day in history Nationals stole a record 13 bases off New York Highlanders catcher Branch Rickey. After some struggles playing such as this outing, Branch Rickey returned to college, where he learned about administration. Returning to MLB in 1913, Rickey embarked on a successful managing and executive career with the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

June 28, 1919 - Boston Red Sox hurler Carl Mays pitched a complete doubleheader against New York Yankees. Mays and the Sox won the first game, 2-0,  but suffered a loss in game 2 of the twinbill, 4-1 at the Polo Grounds in the heart of New York City.

June 28, 1935 - Earl Averill wearing the Number 3 on the Cleveland Indians roster consecutive-game streak ended at 673 contests.

June 28, 1959 - Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Wally Post who wore the Number 14, became the only outfielder to throw out 2 runners in a single inning. The defense of Post was not enough as the Phils ended up losing to the Giants 6-0.

June 28, 1987 - Talking about taking one for the team, but this may be a bit over the line! Boston outfielder Don Baylor, Number 25 set an MLB career hit-by-pitch record at 244 when he was nailed by Yank pitcher Rick Rhoden, Number 26 in the Red Sox, 6-2 win over New York Yankees. Rhoden finished his 16 year career in the Majors hit a total of 39 batters with balls he threw. As for Baylor and his record at the time... SBNation.com in a recent article says, " Baylor will be known as the player who set the all-time record for getting hit by a pitch, later broken by Craig Biggio. If you think that was poor luck or that he liked to break unwritten rules, please disabuse yourself of that notion. Getting hit by a pitch is a skill, and Baylor was better at it than any baseball player who ever played."

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 2015 view of Bowling Green Ballpark from behind home plate. Protective netting obscures the shot from Acdixon.