The first I remember learning of the July 4th "rule" was watching episode of MASH when Winchester bet Col. Potter that the Dodgers would win the 1951 pennant.
I remember reading about how the 1962 Los Angeles Angels, in their second season AND actually playing their home games in Los Angeles, won both ends of a doubleheader on July 4 to pull a half-game in front of the Yankees, with the July 5 L.A. Times sports section headline being "Heaven Can Wait! Angels in 1st on 4th."
If you look closely at the July 4, 1914, standings, Brooklyn should be in 5th place but they are listed 7th. Also, it isn't a typo per se but the typesetter gave them 81 wins when they had 31
It's also pretty common to run into old newspaper standings that have some teams out of order. The further back you go, the more likely it is for that to happen.
The first I remember learning of the July 4th "rule" was watching episode of MASH when Winchester bet Col. Potter that the Dodgers would win the 1951 pennant.
I remember reading about how the 1962 Los Angeles Angels, in their second season AND actually playing their home games in Los Angeles, won both ends of a doubleheader on July 4 to pull a half-game in front of the Yankees, with the July 5 L.A. Times sports section headline being "Heaven Can Wait! Angels in 1st on 4th."
Didn't not know they did that well that year.
The 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks were one game back on July 4 and ended up winning the NL West by 14 that year
If you look closely at the July 4, 1914, standings, Brooklyn should be in 5th place but they are listed 7th. Also, it isn't a typo per se but the typesetter gave them 81 wins when they had 31
Good catch - I missed that!
It's also pretty common to run into old newspaper standings that have some teams out of order. The further back you go, the more likely it is for that to happen.
Has there ever been a good book written about that season?
Not that I’m aware of. Might be a good project to work on…
Perhaps the heat did them in but the 1983 Rangers were up by 2 over the Angels and 3½ over the White Sox but ended up finishing 77-85, 22 games out.
Typical of that era, the 1987 Yankees were up by 5 over the Blue Jays and 6 over the Tigers and ended up finishing 89-73, 9 games out