Presented by ZAMZOWS.
This Day In Sports…August 1, 1945, 80 years ago today:
The legendary Mel Ott, standing only 5-9 and weighing 170 pounds, becomes the first National League player in history to hit 500 career home runs, connecting for the New York Giants off Boston Braves pitcher Johnny Hutchings. Ott, a 12-time All-Star, was in his 20th season with the Giants and would retire less than two years later, finishing with 511 homers. Two players in the American League had reached 500 home runs—one, of course, was Babe Ruth with his then-record 714. Jimmie Fox would finish his career in 1945 with 534 homers, all but 10 of them in the AL.
Ott was one of the rare players who never toiled in the minors. He was signed by the Giants as a 16-year-old and would remain with the big league club for the rest of his career (1926-47). According to the Baseball Hall of Fame website, Giants manager John McGraw refused to send Ott down: “I don’t want anyone tinkering with that natural swing.” That swing included a little leg kick before bringing the bat around, and he used the power he got from that to take advantage of the rightfield line in the Polo Grounds, which measured only 257 feet. Ott hit 323 of his 511 homers in that ballpark.
Ott served as a player-manager for the Giants from 1942-45 and continued to skipper the team for three more seasons after that. He was uncommonly popular as a player—even in opposing stadiums. Ott was friendly and engaging. Later in his career, Leo Durocher was manager of the rival Brooklyn Dodgers. Ott was the subject of Durocher’s famous “Nice guys finish last!” comment.
New York sportswriter Frank Graham, however, said this was the original quote: “Nice guys! Look over there. Do you know a nicer guy than Mel Ott? Or any of the other Giants? Why, they’re the nicest guys in the world! And where are they? In seventh place! Nice guys! I’m not a nice guy—and I’m in first place.” After pacing up and down the visitors’ dugout, the Dodger manager waved a hand toward the Giants’ dugout and repeated, “The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place.”
Even though longevity with one organization was far higher in those days, Ott was still unique, as he is one of only five players in modern major league to spend an entire 20-year-plus career with one team. The others are Stan Musial (St. Louis), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh), Tony Gwinn (San Diego) and Craig Biggio (Houston). Ott was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
