230-226

Do you know who Jackie Robinson is? How about Hideo Nomo? Louis Sockalexis ring a bell?

If you’re reading this, of course you know Robinson and Nomo – and you probably have heard of Sockalexis too. They are all pioneers in sport in relation to breaking new grounds based on race, ethnicity and nationality.

Robinson obviously holds his place in American history as the man who integrated baseball. Although Nomo was the second Japanese-born major leaguer — Masanori Murakami was the first in 1964 — his success opened the door for a consistent flow of Japanese talent to the major leagues. Sockalexis gained some more notoriety when the Indians changed their name to the Guardians, and he’s believed to be the first Native American to play Major League Baseball.

One pioneer who surprisingly doesn’t get the due he deserves is Hiram Bithorn, the first person born in Puerto Rico to make the major leagues.

Bithorn was born in Santurce, San Juan in 1916 and made his debut in 1942, during World War II. He pitched in 77 games for the Cubs the next two seasons and won 18 games in 1943. He also led the National League with seven shutouts and received a single MVP vote that season. He served the next two years in the US Navy, then returned to the bigs in 1946.

Bithorn developed a sore arm and retired after pitching two innings for the White Sox in 1947. Altogether, he pitched in 103 major league games, going 34-31 with a 3.16 ERA.

Since Bithorn broke ground with the Cubs, Puerto Rico has become a fertile ground for superb baseball talent. Over 300 players from the island have played in the majors over the past 80 years including some of the legends of the game like Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Pudge Rodriguez and Roberto Alomar.

Hiram Bithorn is a name more baseball fans should know – and his debut lands in this week’s installment of The Stud 400.

Before we move on to this week’s edition of The Stud 400, here’s a look at the last five entries as we count down the 400 greatest moments in Major League Baseball history:

235: Hal Chase blackballed (1919)

234: Steve Blass loses his control (1973)

233: Mets draft Steve Chilcott over Reggie Jackson (1966)

232: Warren Spahn wins his 363^rd game (1965)

231: Ford Frick Award established (1978)

And now, here’s Episode XXXV of The Stud 400.

230. Hiram Bithorn becomes MLB’s first Puerto Rican-born player (1942)

Hiram “Hi” Bithorn was a legend in his time in Puerto Rico, and it’s a shame more people don’t recognize his contributions to the major leagues as the first Puerto Rican-born player to make the bigs. Nicknamed the “Tropical Hurricane,” Bithorn was a superb athlete who came to the Cubs in 1942 as a 26-year-old pitcher. Bithorn previously played in the Yankees’ system from 1936-38, but didn’t make it out of AAA.

With rosters depleted due to many active players serving in World War II, Bithorn was finally able to reach the majors, although his career was also interrupted when he served two years in the US Navy. At the time, Bithorn was considered a hero in his native Puerto Rico. In 1962, Hiram Bithorn Stadium, an 18,000-seat venue was constructed in San Juan to honor Bithorn, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Puerto Rico in 1951. In 2003 and 2004 when the Expos played some of their games in Puerto Rico, they used Hi Bithorn Stadium as their home venue. Bithorn pitched in 103 major league games and opened the door for over 300 future major leaguers from the island nation.

229. Jose Bautista’s bat flip (2015)

Watch any baseball game today and you’re likely to see some schmoe flip his bat like he’s the king of the world on a routine second inning home run. Hell, players even flip their bats and dance around when they’re down double digits and miles away from the playoff race. It used to be that things like that were reserved for truly special moments – like Jose Bautista’s bat flip in the 2015 ALDS. That bat flip wasn’t just for a single epic home run, it was 22 years in the making. The Blue Jays hadn’t won a postseason series since capturing the 1993 World Series, and had spent the better part of 20 years playing a distant third fiddle to the Yankees and Red Sox.

The Rangers had won the first two games of the 2015 ALDS, but the Jays bounced back to take games three and four by scores of 5-1 and 8-4, respectively. In the deciding Game 5, the Blue Jays were down 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh. The scene was already wild in the Rogers Center. Cole Hamels was cruising, but three Rangers errors loaded the bases with one out. A strange force out at second on popup tied the game and set the stage for Bautista. The hugely popular power hitter annihilated a 1-1 pitch for a three-run blast and spurred the bat flip heard ‘round the world. The Rangers weren’t too happy—the benches emptied twice—but too bad. It was an organic celebration and release of two decades of frustration in an absolute powder keg of a baseball setting.

228. Jim Abbott’s no-hitter (1993)

There are few players who earn universal love in the baseball world. Even the biggest and nicest of stars will have plenty of detractors among fans. One player who is able to transcend the world of baseball vitriol was Jim Abbott. The next time someone says a bad word about Abbott will be the first. Born without a right hand, Abbott was a national inspirational figure since his days dominating for the University of Michigan. He skipped the minors and went straight into the Angels rotation where he stayed for four years, winning 47 games and pitching to a 3.49 ERA. Abbott was traded to the Yankees in December of 1992 and struggled in his first season in pinstripes. On August 29 against the Indians, Abbott had his worst start of the season; the lefty allowed 10 hits and seven runs over 3.2 innings, raising his ERA to 4.31.

Abbott faced the same Indians lineup five days later and history was made. Abbott twirled one of the most inspiring no-hitters ever and it wasn’t just about doing it with one hand. His struggles were tough to see considering how many people were pulling for him. Abbot used 119 pitches to carve up and Indians lineup of Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Albert Belle and other All-Stars. If you experienced it at the ballpark or live on TV, it’s not something you’d soon forget.

227. Bill Terry hits .400 (1930)

Remember a few months back when people were wondering if Luis Arraez could hit .400 for the season? His average was over that magical mark as late as June 24, but as most expected, it couldn’t be maintained over the rigors of a 162-game season. With Arraez tearing up the league, it brought back a name that is always welcome in baseball conversations: Bill Terry. Terry was the last man to hit .400 in the National League, hitting .401 for a Giants team that featured three other Hall of Famers in their lineup (Mel Ott, Freddie Lindstrom and Travis Jackson) and the immortal Carl Hubbell in the rotation.

Terry’s average stood at .398 on August 3 and he remained remarkably consistent the rest of the way. Over the team’s final 52 games, Terry batted .408 and even though he finished with a small 2-12 mini slump, he did enough to finish over the remarkable .400 line. At the time, he was just the second National League player to hit .400 post-1900, joining Rogers Hornsby who did it three times. It’s been 93 years since that magical season, and nobody has really come close since.

226. Ty Cobb beats up a fan (1912)

Ty Cobb is a complex baseball hero. For years, many tales persisted that painted Cobb as everything from a murderer to a racist to an angry derelict, bitter at the world. A lot of that was the product of Al Stump’s book on Cobb, which was published months after Cobb’s death in 1961. In 2015, Charles Leershen wrote Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty which looked at Cobb in a different light and rebuffed some of the stories that have been passed down through the generations. One such story which could not be disputed was one of the more famous eruptions from the Georgia Peach and that’s the time he went into the stands to beat up a handicapped heckler. The Tigers were in New York playing the Highlanders and Cobb was the target of the fans’ ire. One fan, Claude Lucker, was seated behind the Tigers dugout and really rode Cobb, as he had during previous visits to New York.

Lucker’s abuse was so bad that after the second inning, Cobb didn’t even return to the dugout after the final out of the inning. Eventually, teammate Sam Crawford asked Cobb what he was going to do, at which time Cobb bolted for the stands and attacked Lucker. According to Lucker, who had lost most of his two hands in a farming accident, “[Cobb] struck me with his fists on the forehead and over the left eye and knocked me down. Then he jumped on me and spiked me in the left leg, and kicked me in the side, after which he booted me behind the left ear.” Cobb was suspended, which prompted a player strike by the Tigers. At the risk of facing a stiff fine from the league if their next game was a forfeit, owner Frank Navin ordered Hughie Jennings to field a team of people off the street to face off against Connie Mack and the A’s. It went as expected as the A’s destroyed the ragtag group of misfits, 24-2. Cobb urged his teammates to return for the next game and he rejoined them when his suspension was over. The strike lasted just one game, but the story of Ty Cobb beating up a handicapped heckler remains one of the definitive tales from the life of a terrible beauty.

Stay tuned for the next episode of The Stud 400 when we team up with Denton to go to heights never seen before and will never be seen again. We also take a look at two marathon postseason games and revisit one of the great burns an umpire ever gave a manager in the heat of an argument. You better get going, Earl. Get going to the next installment of The Stud 400!