December 19 - Doc Ellis Passes Away - Daily Rewind

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

December 19th Show Notes

December 19, 1934 – The New York Yankees send five players to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League as partial compensation for the acquisition of Joe DiMaggio. The Yankees had previously paid $25,000 for the future Hall of Famer. DiMaggio will play one more season in the PCL before reporting to the Yankees in 1936. In ‘36, DiMaggio will hit .323 with 125 RBIs in helping the Yankees to a World Series title.

December 19, 1976 — A single-engine Piper Cherokee plane crashes into the upper deck of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, home of the Orioles, injuring the pilot and three others. Minutes prior to the mishap, the plane had buzzed the stadium during the final moments of the Steelers’ playoff victory over the Colts.

The pilot of the Piper Cherokee was 33-year-old Donald Kroner. Kroner served three months of a two-year sentence for malicious destruction of property and violation of aviation ordinances.

Kroner had been arrested prior to the Stadium incident for making threats against former Colt Bill Pellington. This included Kroner being accused of dropping a bottle and toilet paper from his plane onto the roof of Pellington’s Timonium restaurant. According to news reports, Kroner was upset over being thrown out of the restaurant. Kroner died in 2013.

Kroner had been fired as an MTA bus driver the day before the crash. He also had been a flight instructor and, according to some accounts, had worked as an air traffic controller. In 1980, Kroner was charged with stealing a Greyhound bus from Dulles International Airport.

December 19, 1990 — At a press conference, Tiger management and WJR announce 1991 will be Ernie Harwell’s 32nd and final season in the broadcast booth. The dismissal of the Motor City’s popular play-by-play announcer starts a furor among fans, which includes a threatened boycott of Domino’s Pizza, a business of club owner Tom Monaghan, and the rise of the slogan, “Say It Ain’t So, Bo”, which appears on bumper stickers and T-shirts all over Detroit, referring to Bo Schembechler, the team president and former University of Michigan football coach.

"[Harwell's situation is] not going to change no matter how much clamor is made over it," said team president Bo Schembechler. The situation caused outrage so much that some made threats of violence against Schembechler. Some, such as Mitch Albom, blamed the situation causing as much negative feeling as it did on WJR executive Jim Long who was the one who pushed the quick, no severance pay removal of Harwell.[6] The movement in favor of keeping Harwell was so strong that even billboards in favor of his remaining were put up.[7] Rick Rizzs was hired away from the Seattle Mariners to replace Harwell in 1992, teaming with Bob Rathbun.

Harwell worked a part-time schedule for the California Angels in 1992. The following year, the Tigers were purchased by Mike Ilitch, who made it one of his first priorities to bring Harwell back. In 1993, Harwell teamed with Rizzs and Rathbun on the WJR broadcasts, calling play-by-play of the middle innings in each game. From 1994 to 1998, Harwell called television broadcasts for the Tigers on PASS Sports and later WKBD-TV. In 1999, he resumed full-time radio duties with the team, swapping roles with Frank Beckmann (who had replaced Rizzs in the radio booth following the 1994 season), teaming with analyst Jim Price, and continuing in that role even as the team's radio rights changed from WJR to WXYT in 2001. During spring training in 2002, Harwell announced that he would retire at the end of the season; his final broadcast came on September 29, 2002. Dan Dickerson, who had joined Harwell and Price in 2000, took over as the Tigers' lead radio voice.

Died: December 19, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA

Dock Ellis, a solid pitcher for the Bucs, is best known for his performance on June 12, 1970, when he would forever etch his name in major league baseball history. That night Dock, despite the fact he walked eight batters, no-hit the San Diego Padres 2-0 on the strength of two Willie Stargell home runs. Also that night, which he admitted later on, was the fact that Ellis pitched his gem while on LSD. Welcome to the wild and bizarre world of Dock Ellis.

He had a 14-3 record at the 1971 All-Star break, but famously said baseball wouldn’t let two soul brothers – he and Vida Blue – start the AS game. Ellis ended up surrendering Reggie Jackson’s titanic blast at Tiger Stadium.

He was also the starter when the Pirates become the first team to start 9 black players. Ellis, never one to avoid controversy, also hit the first three Reds on May 1, 1974 because he felt his team was lackluster.

Ellis will eventually end up a Yankee in ‘76 and win comeback player of year after winning 17 games. Doc Finished up with 138 wins vs. 119 loses and a 3.46 ERA.

In 1955, he broke Ty Cobb’s record to become the youngest player to win a batting title. Al Kaline was one day younger in 1955 than Cobb had been in 1907, when “The Georgia Peach” won his first title. Despite a history of injuries, he tied Tris Speaker’s record of 100+ games in the outfield for 19+ seasons. A future Hall of Famer, Kaline was born on December 19, 1934, in Baltimore, Maryland. In his 22-year career (1953-1974), the outstanding right fielder had 3007 hits, 399 HR, 1582 RBI, 1622 runs, .297 BA, .376 OBP, .480 Slg., & .855 OPS. In the 1968 World Series, Kaline batted .379 with 11 hits, which included two home runs.

Playing his entire career with the Detroit Tigers, his nickname was Mr. Tiger. He was an All-Star in 15 seasons, won 10 Gold Glove Awards, won a batting title in 1955, and was a member of the 1968 World Series champions. His uniform #6 is retired by the Tigers. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 (88.3% on the 1st ballot).

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts