Hockey fans have put away their sweaters and basketball fans have hung up their jerseys as another season for those sports has been put into the history books. Football fans have another three months before the return to the gridiron. So what’s a sports fan to do on the fourth of July?
Baseball is just settling into the season. With almost half of a 162-game season in the books, the best is still to come.
Hopefully the Mets can overcome the injury bug. Maybe the Rockies can stay hot enough to catch the Dodgers. Maybe the Nationals will pull themselves out of the cellar to have one of the greatest comebacks ever.
This is baseball, America’s pastime, where anything can happen. And as Yogi Berra said, “The game’s isn’t over until it’s over.”
American poet Walt Whitman said, “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game—the American game.”
Memories of the fourth of July usually include the smell of hotdogs on the grill, fireworks in the air, and the sounds of baseball fans cheering their favorite team to victory.
History Made on the Fourth
The fourth of July has provided baseball fans with plenty of fond memories as well.
Did you know that Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Albert Pujols all hit their 300th career homeruns on America’s birthday?
Pitchers have also set some records on the fourth of July. In 1980, Houston Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan recorded his 3,000th strikeout against the Reds— the fourth pitcher to reach that feat.
The Yankees Phil Niekro followed suit four years later, becoming the ninth player to strike out 3,000 in a win against the Rangers.
In 1983, Yankees pitcher Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter against the rival Red Sox. It was the first Yankees no-hitter since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
The strangest fourth of July play came in the bicentennial year 1976. Tim McCarver of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a grand slam but was only awarded a single because he passed teammate Garry Maddox on the base path. He was still credited with three RBIs though.
Going back to 1939, Yankees and baseball fans alike will have heard about Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech at Yankee Stadium in front of over 60,000 fans.
Gehrig was forced from the game when he was diagnosed with ALS, which has since been called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” His No. 4 was the first number to ever be retired.
Mets and Braves
The game between the Mets and the Braves at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium in 1985 is arguably one of the best fourth of July games ever.
The game lasted for 6:10 and 19 innings with two rain delays. The Mets’ Keith Hernandez hit for the cycle but the most unlikely hero of the game was Atlanta pitcher Rick Camp.
Atlanta was down by two in the bottom of the 18th and needed a pinch hitter. Camp, a .062 hitter, had to hit with two outs and the game on the line.
He tied the game up by hitting his first career home run. The Mets would prevail however with a five run 19th, winning the game 16–13. As promised, the fireworks show went on as planned—but it was at 4:01 a.m. on the fifth of July, just six minutes after the game finally finished.
With 15 games being played this fourth of July, who knows what history will be made?
Humphrey Bogart once said, “A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.”
Whether it’s a Fenway Frank in Boston, a Dodger Dog in L.A., or a Nathan’s Hot Dog at Yankee Stadium, no baseball game would be complete without one.
As we celebrate this fourth of July in baseball stadiums across the country, enjoy a hot dog with your family and take in the sights and sounds of the post-game fireworks.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will be celebrating his 79th birthday this July 4th and first at the new Yankees Stadium.
Happy birthday Mr. Steinbrenner and happy birthday America!
