You love baseball. Tim Kurkjian loves baseball. So while we await its return, every day we'll provide you with a story or two tied to this date in baseball history.
ON THIS DATE IN 1988, you got no idea what I'm going through.
Orioles manager Frank Robinson was desperate for support ... a night out ... a night away from his team ... something. So desperate, Frank took the three beat writers who covered the team -- Ken Rosenthal, Richard Justice and me -- out to dinner on an off night in Minneapolis.
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The Orioles were 0-18, on their way to 0-21. They had demolished the major league record (previously 0-14 by the 1997 Cubs) for a team's losses in a season before its first victory. Orioles GM Roland Hemond had tried to change the team's luck in Kansas City by wearing the suit that he wore during a playoff clinch with the 1983 White Sox. It was hanging in a glass case at Comiskey Park; he had it removed and shipped to him. It had shrunk badly with champagne. Roland, ever playful, wore it. It didn't fit, it looked ridiculous. And it didn't work.
The Orioles kept on losing.
Frank Robinson, who didn't tolerate losing very well, had had enough. So he took us out. Halfway through dinner, I asked if anyone interesting had called to offer encouragement. Frank said, "the president [Ronald Reagan] called today.''
Frank was a big kidder, so I pressed him three times, and finally he said, "Damn it, the president of the United States called me today!''
I asked, "What did he say?''
Frank said, "He said, 'Frank, I know what you're going through.''
Frank responded: "Mr. President, you got no idea what I'm going through.''
This was pre-cellphones. Richard Justice and I, we worked for morning newspapers, so we ran to the pay phones at Rudolph's, back when there used to be pay phones. We called in our stories, and each paper ran a box on the front page, A-1: The president had called the beleaguered manager of the Orioles. When the Orioles finally did win, 9-0 in Chicago on April 29, the phone rang in the visiting manager's office at Comiskey Park. Robinson answered, "Yes, Mr. President.''
Other baseball notes from April 25
In 1990, Bill Buckner hit his final home run in the major leagues. It was an inside-the-park homer against the Angels. We forget that, as a young man, Bill Buckner could really run.
In 1976, Cubs center fielder Rick Monday rescued the American flag from two fans who were going to set fire to it in the outfield at Wrigley Field. Monday said he gets asked about that all the time. And he should.
In 1944, Tony Mullane died. He is the first known ambidextrous pitcher. He often pitched with both hands in games. In the Baseball Encyclopedia, he is listed as BB, as in "bats both." He is listed as TB, as in "throws both."
In 2010, David Price threw the first shutout and his first complete game of his career. Soon after, we would find out that he has a dog named Astro. "George Jetson had a dog named Astro,'' I told Price. He said, "I know. I loved the Jetsons.''