Stan Musial's first at-bat as a club executive was less successful.    

 

The Man was named a Vice President of the Cardinals on September 25, 1963 while his team was playing at Wrigley Field. Before his third inning plate appearance, Pat Pieper, the Cubs’ announcer informed the crowd of the promotion, whereupon the new VP struck out.  

 

Musial was retiring as a player, and being saluted around the league.  MUSIAL FANS AS EXECUTIVE IN THIRD INNING said the Tribune. Mayor Daley designated him as an honorary citizen of Chicago.

An addendum to the comments about Stan Musial: He did get a hit in his first at-bat as a grandfather, but it was not a double ... It was a home run, his 474th. It came on Sept. 10, 1963, against Glen Hobbie of the Cubs.  

 

I only know this because I read an item about it in the Sporting News just a few days ago.  

 

The Ventura grand slam single that Tom Tango brought up was in the 1999 playoffs against the Braves. It's not quite accurate, or at least a bit misleading, to say Ventura just decided he didn't want to round the bases. His teammates mobbed him before he got to second. There's video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpWyGSJMqlM

It's unusual for me to argue with Tangotiger, but I don't think it was Ventura's choice to stop running the bases.  The Mets players ran onto the field, and the runner at first (Todd Pratt) stopped and came back to lift Ventura up.  It's on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aO_9X9bCKc , if you want to see a delighted Bobby Valentine...

Grand slam single from Ventura: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=CpWyGSJMqlM

Hey, Bill!  On the anniversary of Brett's "Pine Tar" homer, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the call.  The point you made was that Billy Martin waited to see what Brett would do with a clearly illegal bat.  If Brett made an out, nothing would be said...and if Brett got a hit (as he did) then Martin would protest.  And your logic was that nobody is entitled to wait and see what happens and then pick the best outcome for your team.   

Hey Bill,  

In getting familiar with the new Hall of Fame Value numbers, I notice that for catchers the total career numbers don't equal the sum of the season numbers. I'm guessing there is an adjustment for catchers so that the bulk of them don't fall short of the 500 level. Can you explain or remind me how the catcher adjustment is done? Thanks in advance.

The death of Jim Bouton prompted me to seek out Ball Four, that seminal book of my youth (on many levels). I am pleased to report -- Bouton recorded it HIMSELF for Audible:  

 

https://www.audible.com/pd/Ball-Four-Audiobook/B007RYI4XM?qid=1562976936&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=TS8SPC71QW1MXK85CFNC&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1  

 

Worth joining Audible all by itself. Here he is, arguing for money from the Yankees, every year, in the fat days of the 60s  

-- Bouton's AUDIO IMPRESSIONS of various Yankees  

-- Wise observations about sports (and life) ABOUT EVERY THREE MINUTES  

-- Funny funny anecdotes  

 

And I cannot emphasize how wonderful to hear it in Bouton's own voice. He's obviously in his 60s or so when doing it, but it's history, and he tells it with conviction and humor.  There are several times when his voice catches, chuckling, because he is STILL LAUGHING over a particular story. Again, this is a MUST, guys.

RE: Draft in WWII. Don't know anything about Musial, but can relay my father's experience. He was 18 on Dec 7th 1941 and at some point in Dec or Jan went down to volunteer. They refused him on the grounds that he had a spot on his chest x-ray, assuming that he might have TB or something. A year later he was drafted, saw the same draft Dr with the same x-ray (that spot was on every chest x-ray he had for the rest of his life, never figured out what it was) and was approved for induction. Obviously, by Jan 1943 they needed bodies. Perfection wasn't a requirement. Thanks.

I imagine I'm not the first to send this your way, but here's the game with Frank White's walk-off triple to complete the cycle -  

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198208030.shtml  

 

He actually reached base 5 ways that game: via single, double, triple, homer, and error.

Did you ever run a tracer on the Ernie Lombardi story where he claimed to have been thrown out at first on a line drive off the left field wall?  I used baseball-reference's tools to make a list of all 3546 of his non-strikeout outs, and none of them appear to match up.  No LF-1B putouts, or LF-(other stuff)-1B putouts at all.  I checked CF-1B and RF-1B, too, and nothing.

About game-winning hits:  

Rule 9.06(f): Subject to the provisions of Rule 9.06(g), when a batter ends a  

game with a safe hit that drives in as many runs as are necessary to put his team in the lead, the official scorer shall credit  

such batter with only as many bases on his hit as are advanced  

by the runner who scores the winning run, and then only if the  

batter runs out his hit for as many bases as are advanced by the  

runner who scores the winning run.  

 

Rule 9.06( f ) Comment: The official scorer shall apply this  

rule even when the batter is theoretically entitled to more bases  

because of being awarded an "automatic" extra-base hit under  

various provisions of Rules 5.05 and 5.06(b)(4).  

The official scorer shall credit the batter with a base touched in  

the natural course of play, even if the winning run has scored  

moments before on the same play...If the batter-runner reaches second base [before the run scores], the official scorer shall credit the batter with a two-base hit.  

 

Did you know that the Villisca murder house was famous as a "ghost house"?  I drove past it early in the year and saw a sign that suggested a museum was present, but apparently it closed.  https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12163

My favorite is Robin Ventura hitting a walkoff grandslam single (with the Mets, might have been a playoff game).  He just decided he didn't want to round the bases, so stopped after he touched first.  And it's especially noteworthy because Ventura has a historically high Grand Slam total.

Regarding the Frank White game where his walkoff hit was scored as a triple to complete the cycle… It would have been this 1982 game.:  

 

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1982/B08030KCA1982.htm  

 

Frank also hit for the cycle in a 1979 game against the Angels, incidentally, but that was in Anaheim.