Skip to main content

Sunday School: History Lesson 2

Are you aware that the Phillies once had a shortstop named Heinie? Oh, well they did. From 1923-1928, John Henry "Heinie" Sand played up the middle for the Phils. Heinie was a popular nickname in MLB, during the early 20th century, for players of German descent.

Sand is best known for his role in exposing a betting scandal in 1924 that implicated an ex-Phillie. Late that season, the Phillies were out of the playoff hunt, but the Giants were locked in a tight pennant race. Prior to a game, with 3 days left in the season, Heinie Sand was approached by Giants reserve outfielder, Jimmy O'Connell. O'Connell and Sand knew each other from their youth, as they both grew up in San Francisco. O'Connell offered Sand $500 if he "didn't bear down too hard". The games were all crucial for the Giants at that stage, but Sand refused and notified the Phillies manager, Art Fletcher, later that night. An investigation followed, and O'Connell would later confess and implicate Giants teammates in the bribe attempt. As a result, Jimmy O'Connell and Giants coach (and phormer Phillie) Cozy Dolan were both permanently banned from baseball by Commissioner Kenesaw Landis.

Heinie Sand played in 848 games over 6 seasons for the Phils. He batted .258 with 18 homers in his career. In 1925, at age 27, Sand made 60 errors in 143 games at SS.

------------

The Phillies interest in an additional righty bat continues. Ty Wigginton has been added to the list of guys like Mark Grudzielanek, Nomar Garciaparra, Rich Aurilia and Moises Alou who interest the Phillies.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mike McGuire Living a Dream With Favorite Team

LAKEWOOD, NJ- Every young ballplayer grows up wishing he could play for his favorite team. Mike McGuire has an opportunity to do just that after signing with the Phillies organization in July. McGuire was a 43rd round draft pick taken by the Cleveland Indians in the 2008 amateur draft out of the University of Delaware. Early scouting reports liked McGuire's abilities, despite some arm trouble. He advanced as far as High A Level Kinston last season. While there, he posted an 0-3 record with a 5.46 ERA in 9 games, 8 of which were starts. The Indians weren't happy with McGuire's efforts this spring and released him. McGuire caught on with the Sussex Skyhawks of the independent Can-Am League, where he stayed in shape and pitched against other formerly affiliated minor leaguers. As a starter with the Skyhawks, McGuire went 3-4 with a 5.29 ERA in 8 outings. From there, just as all players in those independent leagues hope for, the 24-year-old McGuire got noticed. The Phillies wer...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Harry's Plaque Has Misprint

At the ballpark today for the first time since Harry Kalas was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame on Friday, I noticed an error in the text on his plaque. Verbage on the plaque reads like this... Voice of Phillies baseball on radio and TV for 39 seasons. Teamed with Richie Ashburn from 1971 until 1997. Harry was on the air for all of Mike Schmidt's 548 home runs, five Phillies no-hitters, seven National League Championship Series, three World Series, the first and final games at Veterans Stadium and the Citizens Bank Park 2004 opener. Received the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in 2002 for "Major Contributions to Baseball" and was inducted into the broadcasters' wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His calls were legendary, especially his signature home run call, "Outta heeere." On October 29, 2008, he brought utmost joy to Phillies fans: "The 0-2 pitch, swing and miss , struck him out. The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 Worl...