The legendary Leo Durocher was born on this day in 1905.
Leo broke with the Yankees in 1925 but did not start playing on a regular basis until 1928 when he hit .270 in 102 games.
Durocher had a pretty good career with the Yankees, Reds, Cardinals and Dodgers. He was primarily a short stop and finished with a .247 career average.
As a manager, Durocher won 2,008 games, 3 NL Pennants and the World Series with the 1954 Giants.
In the spring of 1947, Leo and the Brooklyn Dodgers took their spring training camp to Havana. It was a real treat for Cuban fans to catch major league exhibition baseball games.
We remember him as a very colorful figure on and off the field.
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“The Warner Bros. icon everybody knows and loves first appeared on July 27, 1940 in “Wild Hare,” a cartoon short directed by Tex Avery. The clip features a wily Bugs Bunny outsmarting Elmer Fudd, who hunts for a “silly wabbit” in vain. Warner Bros. made several rabbit cartoons in earlier years, but they were not the same as the distinctive cotton-tailed “Bugs” featured in July of 1940.
Bugs Bunny was an “instant star,” He became one of the world’s best-known cartoon characters, starring in more than 175 films, receiving three Oscar nominations, one Academy Award, and appearing in comic books, TV specials, and video games, as Parade Magazine reported.”
Happy birthday to the most famous rabbit of the 20th century!
P.S. You can listen to my show. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
My late father would often relate this story. He was listening to the game on the radio in Havana and then all hell broke loose.
From 1954 to 1960, Havana had a AAA franchise in what they used to call the International League. It included Toronto and Montreal. The Havana team was the Reds' AAA franchise at the time. Therefore, Cuban fans had a chance to see young future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who broke into the majors in 1958.
It's worth noting that having an AAA franchise in the late 1950's meant more than a passion for baseball. It was further evidence that the island's economy could support a minor league team with ticket sales, radio and TV programming. Remember that Havana had to compete with other U.S. cities for that franchise.
In the early hours of July 26, 1960, my father and lots of Cuban fans were caught up in an extra inning game between Havana and Rochester. The game included future major leaguers like Mike Cuellar, Luis Arroyo, Leo Cardenas, Elio Chacon, and Cookie Rojas.
This is what happened:
Shortly after midnight the morning of July 26, while the Sugar Kings and Rochester Red Wings were in the 11th inning of a game at Gran Stadium, demonstrations began in the streets of Havana, marking the anniversary of the 1953 attack on the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba by a band of rebels led by Fidel Castro, an event viewed as the conception of the eventual revolution.
During the course of this observance, a wild burst of gunfire broke out, and a pair of stray bullets found their way into the ball park, striking Rochester’s Frank Verdi, who was coaching third at the time, and Havana shortstop Leo Cardenas.
Neither Verdi nor Cardenas were seriously injured, but the incident nearly ended professional baseball in Cuba. The Red Wings left the country immediately, refusing to play the final game of the series, and they and other International League teams expressed fear and reluctance at returning to Cuba.
It was over for the Havana Sugar Kings. They eventually moved to Jersey City. The professional league played one more winter season but professional baseball ended that night.
What was my father thinking that night? He was not thinking about leaving Cuba and settling in the U.S. Like most Cubans, he thought that the storm would pass and things would settle down.
A few years later, we landed in the U.S. My brother and I then started collecting baseball cards, including many of those who were playing that night.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).
